Embers of War
by ChaoslordZX
Summary: As the Cylon war ends bringing peace to the twelve colonies the Covenant war begins, blanketing the UNSC and her colonies in brutal warfare. While two ships from both sides are on a simple patrol they cross paths. This event draws both ships into a world of political secrets and intrigue as well as a horrifying war against a ruthless enemy. Early Halo/Blood and Chrome era x-over
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: We as in I and my friend do not own either Halo or Battlestar Galactica, nor any of their affiliates. They and thier respective affiliates belong to their respective owners. This story is written for entertainment purposes only yada yada yada, I'm sure you all get the picture. If you still feel like suing us then feel free, you will at most get one of our many doomsday weapons, take it, we have plenty.

A/n: there will plenty of flashbacks in this prologue, please note that there will be far fewer as we get into the actual story.

Chapter 1

The Tale of Two Wars

Unexplored space/ present day

"This is Battlestar Acropolis to unknown vessel. You cannot be identified. Identify yourself or you will be fired upon."

The words echoed in the background, repeating over and over. Korran placed his hands on the edge of the glowing command table and looked up at the Dradis consol. The blue sweeping line continued to ping on a large red dot labeled 'unknown contact'. The CIC was bustling with activity now, as men and woman rushed reports and numbers around the room.

"Still no response." Celesta announced.

"Who are they?" came Sasha's voice from across the table.

Korran looked down at the woman who stood opposite him. Her golden hair illuminated by the tactical board behind her. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce the chaos as surely as light rays pierced the dark.

"I wish I knew," Korran said, his deep voice seemed to carry farther than he intended.

"It's been two years. Could they be Cylons?"

Three Years Earlier/ Operation Raptor Talon

The Acropolis's CIC's lights flickered as a missile impacted the outer hull. Korran grabbed the command table to brace himself. The deck plating seemed to writhe beneath him as the concussive shockwave resounded through the ships mighty hull. The viper pilots voice were muffled for only a moment as the speakers failed briefly, they were screaming. Korran sighed; he knew they were getting cut to pieces out there. Opposite of Korran stood Commander Davenforth, the ships commanding officer. The old man's face was etched with deep furrows from the years he'd spent fighting the Cylons.

Davenforths eyes reflected the waving Dradis consol as he stared at it, waiting for something he could do. Korrans hand clenched around the edge of the command table, the hardest thing he had ever done was giving up the viper seat for the CIC. Now the men and women that he used to fly with were getting slaughtered while he and the rest of the crew remained safe behind the 6-meter thick hull of the massive battlestar.

"Tell guns Alpha through Echo to concentrate fire on the starboard baseship," Davenforth said looking directly into Korrans eyes.

Korran nodded as he picked up the phone and relayed the order. Another missile impacted the ship's hull. The CIC rocked and the lights flickered again. The entire CIC was flooded with the strangely haunting sounds as the explosion echoed through the ship.

"Oh my gods, the Atlantia was just destroyed," "Oh frak, she's gone!" Came a pilot's voice.

"Is that confirmed!" Davenforth said looking behind him at Ops.

"Confirmed sir," Hendar said, "The Atlantia has been destroyed."

"Were flying straight into hell, commander," Korran said, "We are the next major target on the tactical hit list."

Davenforth slammed his hand on the command table, "That's 5,000 good men dead. Frak this war."

The ship shook again as a missile hit, and then again as another impacted the hull. Soon the ship felt like a rickety old roller coaster ride, as dozens of missiles attempted to tear the Acropolis apart. Suddenly Korran was involuntarily thrust onto the command table, and Davenforth thrown against the opposing console as the lights on the ship failed completely. The Dradis consol died out, and the sound of working computers stopped.

"Nuclear Ordinance detonation on Acropolis's starboard hull!" Came the CAG's voice from the speaker before it too failed in a shower of sparks.

Planet Reach 2 years ago

Gabriel took a deep breath. _Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni_ was etched in the door in front of him. He had to tell her, but he knew she would be upset or worse, disappointed. Running his hand through his short black hair Gabriel cleared his throat and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Came al-Cygni's voice.

Gabriel walked into the room. He was filled with a noxious anxiety that was more annoying than unnerving, though that could just be his eight years of training and serving in ONI's special forces talking.

Jilan's black hair swayed with the movement of her upper body as she wrote something on a piece of paper glancing up briefly to see Gabriel. She quickly put the papers aside and stood up smiling. Her green eyes almost seemed to be accusing him of failing somehow.

"Gabriel, come in," She said, "How was the last mission? Did the Intel present itself or did you have to look?"

"I had to look," Gabriel said removing his hat and tucking it under his arm with a heavy sigh.

"Why do I get the feeling you're not here to talk about the weather?" al-Cygni replied.

Her face wrinkled into an inquisitive expression that only made Gabriel more nervous. She had that effect on him ever since the two met. Gabriel's worst fear was that he might somehow fail the woman who had practically raised him. But he knew what had to be done.

"ONI's been very good to me, I can't complain about anything they have done for me," Gabriel Said, "and they certainly haven't wasted any time in using my talents to their fullest potential."

"I'm sensing a 'but' somewhere in here," al-Cygni said.

"I'm leaving ONI," Gabriel said, deciding that sugar-coating it would only make it worse.

The room seemed to go dead as if someone had turned off all the sound in the world just for that moment. Sitting down slowly she looked at her papers as if they would reveal something that would explain Gabriel's decision.

"I don't want to reach a rank where they won't let me leave," Gabriel said, "I have more plans than espionage and operating in the shadows for the rest of my life."

"I see," Jilan said, "but that's not all is it, Gabriel?"

Gabriel could see the barely disguised look of surprise mixed with, was that disappointment? in her eyes and felt something unpleasant move in his stomach, "What do you mean?"

"It has something to do with your parents too, doesn't it?" Jilan said pointedly.

Gabriel looked at the floor for some time before being able to meet those daunting green eyes. He remained silent incapable of answering, and perhaps unwilling to admit to himself what his real motives were. He took a deep breath, which did little to calm the butterfly's in his stomach.

"Well then, I don't suppose I can't stop you," Jilan said, "I'll get the paper work to you as soon as possible."

Gabriel nodded, "Thank you ma'am."

She smiled, "Gabriel it will always be Jilan to you. You are almost a son to me, and I will always be your friend. I made you a promise many years ago, and I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill it."

Gabriel nodded, placed his cap on his head and walked out of the room closing the door behind him.

Operation Raptor Talon

The moaning and muttering of recovering officers now filled the room in place of the sounds of machines and computers. The ship shook violently as it continued to be pounded by Cylon fire. The pitch-blackness that the nuke's EMP had left them in now seemed to encroach upon Korran magnifying his sense of doom. He knew that the Acropolis wouldn't last long under the beating they were taking. Suddenly with an abrupt pulse of energy the sound of machinery flickering back into life filled the room and the emergency lighting system kicked in illuminating the CIC in a dark red glow.

"Sound off!" Korran yelled across the CIC.

Most stations responded almost immediately.

"The commander!" Yelled Hendar leaping over his console where the commander lay motionless.

Korran bolted around the command table to the commander's side and knelt. Putting his fingers on the neck of the commander Korran searched for a pulse, there was none. He looked down in the red glow of the CIC emergency lights to see a pool of warm dark liquid. Korran touched the commanders forehead and made the sign of Hades.

"He's dead," Korran said, "I have the conn."

Korran returned to the command table, but now he took the commander's side. The ship continued to shake violently without reprieve. It wasn't long before the tactical office called across the room that the guns were back online. Then the sound of the Dradis began to fill the room as the screen above Korran flickered to life.

"All Gun batteries target starboard vessel, bring that Base star down." Korran yelled.

The satisfying 'thuds' of the Battlestars guns once again firing graced the CIC. The missile hits grew fewer in number as the PDGs shot them down. Regardless Korran could see red lights all over the Acropolis's structural display. The radio buzzed to life as the last thing in the CIC to return to function. The sounds of Viper pilots yelling, either from a kill or as they were being killed, now echoed throughout the CIC in the mesh of other sounds.

"Tell the CAG to cover our Dorsal hull, we can't take many hits there," Korran said taking a deep breath as he watched the officers carrying out his commands, "Tell our PDGs to concentrate on inbound missiles as well. We can take the hits from the raiders, but not from those basestars."

The ship shook again as a missile impacted the hull, "Sir we are losing integrity on the starboard flight pod, explosive decompression is imminent in those areas if we take another hit !"

The ship jolted again and the Dradis screen flickered. Korran watched as the starboard base star's signature disappeared off the grid.

"Did they jump or was that a kill!" Korran demanded.

"Kill, Starboard basestar is gone," Hendar shouted over the concussive roar of another missile impact.

"Holy frak, they got the Colombia!" Came the CAGs voice from the speakers, "I repeat the Colombia is down."

"Confirmed," Hendar said, "The Colombia's gone."

The ship rocked again as a missile hit the ship's hull. Sparks fell from the Dradis consol above Korran showering him in glowing beads of light. He backed away as the console sparked again. He didn't know what worried him more, the fact that the Colombia was destroyed or that he was thankful it wasn't the Acropolis.

"Guns Beta, Charlie and Epsilon are none operational!"

Korran sighed, "Compensate with guns Alpha, Delta and Sierra, keep our sides covered."

"This is Admiral Hogan of the Battlestar Cerberus, get the frak out of there Acropolis, this war can't afford to lose you!"

Korran looked down at the phone that was imbedded in the side of the Acropolis's CIC command table. He almost didn't want to respond. They couldn't leave the fleet short another battlestar and they sure couldn't leave their comrades in arms fighting for their lives.

"Admiral, this is Colonel Veritas, the current CO of the Acropolis, we are still able to combat the enemy, requesting permission to stay in the fight," Korran replied through the phone.

"Negative," The admiral, said, "Get out of there, Colonel."

"Understood, sir," Korran replied heavily hanging up the phone.

The ship shook again as another missile impacted the outer hull. Korran looked behind him at Hendar and nodded. Hendar grabbed the jump key and placed it in the slot. He then proceeded to pull up the emergency jump coordinates. The entire ship seemed to elongate as the FTL drives spooled up, and then the high pitch wine of the jump resounded throughout the ship. They had jumped.

"Damage Report!" Korran called out.

"It's bad," Hendar said, "really bad." as he read the first of what was to be many incoming reports.

UNSC Space Command Headquarters: Reach

Two years ago

The massive building loomed in front of him, its many stories casting a shadow over the city of New Alexandria. Why he had been called to the United Nations Space Command Headquarters eluded him entirely. He was just starting service, having been able to skip the academy entirely due to his work with ONI. But nothing he had done, either good or bad, had warranted a visit to headquarters. Unsure of exactly what to expect, he pushed open the doors with slow hesitation.

The massive atrium was filled with naval officers running from place to place carrying folders, boxes, stacks of paper, or books from one place to another. Many of the people however we seated at a large number of desks which were stationed around the room, they were holographic interfaces glowing in front of them as they helped others find where they were going.

In an attempt to not look like a complete fool, Gabriel looked for the lineup of people that would best suit his purposes. Just as if fate itself had decided to play a joke, the most beautiful blonde haired blue-eyed officer walked up to him.

"You look lost, can I help you find something?" She said smiling, showing off her brilliant white teeth.

"uhhh," He said blinking rapidly while trying to find words which seemed to have escaped him at the moment. She smirked at his flustered features.

He took a deep breath and composed himself "My orders are to report to Admiral Stanforth."

"His office is located on floor 12 room D2," The young woman said, "though he hardly uses it."

"Thank you," Gabriel said.

Nodding politely to the beautiful young lady, he turned towards the elevator and entered it. Pushing the '12' button he felt the elevator jolt to life and rise into the air. It carried him to deck twelve where it dinged and the doors opened allowing the young man to exit. Walking down the carpeted hallway he counted the many doors that started with A and went to Z and then began with A1 and so forth. He knew the building was huge, but the sheer mazelike corridors made him wonder how the UNSC ever got anything done.

Finally he reached D2 where he knocked on the door. While familiar in some way, the anxiety that he felt now was more of fear of getting removed from service for some deed he had not done. He shook his head of the thought, he couldn't have done anything wrong.

"Enter," Came an elderly man's voice.

Gabriel opened the door and found a grey haired man with a strangely kind face and distinct wrinkles around his mouth suggesting he smiled a lot. He wore a UNSC uniform with the three stars of a Vice Admiral pinned on his collar. In his hand between his index and pointer finger rested a Sweet William cigar, which filled the room with the musty fragrance that came with smoking a fine cigar.

He put it to his mouth and inhaled and once removing the smoking cylinder he morphed his mouth into an O and puffed out three smoke rings in a row. Smiling he tapped the cigar on the tray on his desk next to the multitudes of books and laid it to rest. Naturally Gabriel snapped to attention, which Stanforth waved away with flick of his wrist. Gabriel relaxed.

"Gabriel Halos, I presume," The Admiral said with slow methodical word as if each word meant something incredibly meaningful, "I'm willing to bet a shot of whisky you're wondering why the hell you got called hear."

"It's one of several questions on my mind," Gabriel said, "Yes sir."

"Well to put it simply we have a mutual friend who feels that your talents would be wasted working your way up the ranks like a normal officer," Stanforth said, "so how," he leaned back in his chair, "would you feel about a command?"

"I'm honored you would give me my own command, but I've hardly ever served on spacecraft before," Gabriel said. "Aside from getting from one place to another."

"What's important about command is tactics and leadership, and I'm told you have both," The Admiral said, he narrowed his gaze "Was I told wrong?"

"No sir," Gabriel said, Stanforth seemed to relax again at this.

"Good, then I have you slated for the Vigilance," The Admiral said, "As her CO."

"Thank you sir," Gabriel said hiding his surprise at being made the CO of a vessel.

"Good now I can give this office back to its original owner, I rarely ever use it anyway and I hate planetary gravity, wreaks havoc on my sense of balance" He said with a smile, "It's easier to pull the paper work here anyway, dismissed Captain,"

"Captain, sir that's not my rank, "Gabriel said with a strike of fear, maybe it wasn't him who was supposed to be there.

"It is now," The Admiral said, "As I said dismissed."

Gabriel snapped to attention and saluted the Admiral. Then turned around and exited the office. As he walked down the hall he felt a mixed sense of satisfaction and nervousness course through him. He was the captain of a UNSC ship. He had forgotten to ask its class, but hell, "A ship is a ship, right?"

Scorpia Shipyards

The Acropolis and the Galactica were side by side in the Scorpia shipyard. Both looking almost identical, except for the full armor plating on the Acropolis, the two made the gun stars and strike stars docked next to them look pathetically small. Korran stood at the window gazing out at the two leviathans as work crew caused bright flashes to occur around the ships' hulls as they ignited welding torches. He smiled, the two ships were absolutely gorgeous. The sudden increased in weight on his left shoulder caused Korran to turn around with a jolt.

"Didn't mean to startle you," Admiral Hogan said retracting his hand from Korrans shoulder.

"Sir," Korran said snapping to attention and saluted, which the admiral followed as well snapping his own hand to his forehead in military ridged precision.

"As you were."

Korran nodded and relaxed. He turned to look out at the two enormous Battlestars, "it's been almost a year since the Armistice was signed. It's amazing the ship survived considering the damage the Acropolis took."

"Well it was easier to repair her than build a new Battlestar from scratch, she's a fine lady of action," Admiral Hogan said, "speaking of which, have you made up your mind?"

"I was looking forward to returning to Picon, rebuilding my family home, visit my sisters grave, and her husbands," Korran said, "she left a 2 year old son behind when she died. I guess he'd be twelve now. I haven't been the uncle I should have been."

"No," Hogan said resting his hand on Korrans shoulder again, "you've been busy defending their right to survive."

"It's over now, and I want to go home, even if it's only for a little while," Korran replied, "I'll say yes if you give me two months with my family, or what's left of it."

"The Acropolis is yours then," Hogan said letting his hand fall to his side, "I'll see you in two months."

"Wow, seasoned commanders must be hard to come by," Korran said, surprised at how easy it was for the admiral to give him the time off and retain the command of the ship.

"They are." he stated simply.

For a few moments the two stood and looked out across the ship yard to where Scorpia loomed in the distance, it's atmosphere rippling with clouds mixed with the green of fields and the blue of water. Orbiting it were dozens of large stations all of which were bent on constructing new battlestars, or repairing and refitting others.

"I guess the fleet will eventually break up," Korran said.

"I doubt it, the people are still scared. While the war is over we will be completely manning all of our Battlestars for a few more years. Besides, there will always be a place for the fleet." Hogan said.

Korran nodded, "I need to pack."

The two saluted each other once again and walked their separate ways.

Battlegroup X-ray, Epsilon Indi System – One year ago

Gabriel pushed the heavy metal beam off of his chair with a grunt, it fell to the floor of the bridge loudly. He gave a glance out the window looking down at the once lush world which now flickered with the last of once blazing fires and white continental plates covered with snow from the nuclear winter effect of the glassing. Harvest, the breadbasket of the UNSC was little more than desert now. The lights on the bridge flickered slightly, and the holographic displays were all but gone.

"This is Vice-Admiral Preston Cole to Vigilance, do you copy?" Came the Admirals voice over the ships com.

"This is Vigilance, we're a little beat up but all and all we are alive," Gabriel gasped into the comlink on the arm of his command chair, "What the hell was that thing?"

"I wish I knew Captain," Cole's voice echoed again, "how long to make repairs."

"I don't know, how badly do you need us?" Gabriel replied.

"Badly, seventeen ships are in pieces out there," Cole said, "A Marathon-class cruiser like the Vigilance would be nice to have operational right about now."

"Understood, we'll get her back in ship shape as soon as possible." Gabriel said.

Gabriel got up and moved around the bridge reading the reports on flickering consoles and helping officers up who had been knocked off their feet in the recent battle. Whatever had glassed the planet had been able to pack one hell of a punch. A Marathon-class cruiser was not a push over by any means, however if this enemy force could do what they had done to this ship, then could rip apart any other type of ship in UNSC fleet with relative ease.

Looking out the main window that offered a view of the ships mighty dorsal MAC beyond which lay the massive hulks of dead UNSC ships that had been shot down in the fight and beyond them, Harvest. With forty to one odds they should have won with little issue, but they didn't. Half of the fleet lay dead beyond the Vigilance's bow. _'And the other half would have joined them if it wasn't for the Admirals last minute brilliance.'_ Gabriel thought to himself.

Turning around Gabriel walked towards the ship, "Fix this mess," he ordered "it looks like my room as a teenager."

He continued out of the room, walking down the metal hallway. He passed the giant red arrow on the floor pointing in the opposite direction in which he was walking. Inscribed in large white letters on the wall next to it was _Bridge_. Officers saluted him as he walked by, even though many of them were injured or groggy from their recent rough treatment. Repair crews were running around carrying heavy materials to try and patch up the damage.

Finally making it to the elevator he pushed the flickering holographic panel that led to deck 29 where his quarters were. He was beginning to wish he had taken that offer of a bottle of whiskey from Admiral Stanforth. He could sure use one right now. If these … things, for lack of any other term he could think of, meant war, then UNSC would be in serious trouble.

Battlestar Acropolis – Patrol of Red Line Border (Present Day)

A large burley man with dark skin sat in the gym benching massive weights. His black hair was cut short and his beard, which neatly formed on his chin and upper lip, was trimmed to match. With a final heave he pushed the weights up and mounted them on the two racks. Sitting up he wiped the sweat that had beaded up on his forehead.

The gym was filled with marines as well as Acropolis crewmembers lifting weights, running on treadmills or simply doing chin ups on bars. He smiled slightly seeing his men work hard even though the war was over.

"Something's never change." He muttered to himself.

"Something's never do," came a smooth voice from behind him.

He turned around to see Ileen Silo, the ships current CAG, packing her bag. She gave him a smile. Chills went down his back, and his brain went dead unable to formulate words any longer.

"What's wrong Kamen," she teased, "cat got your tongue?"

He shook his head slightly and reached out for her, "No captain, just admiring the view."

A sharp pain raced through his hand as she slapped him, "Look, don't touch," She said.

Kamen Cole was one of the huge muscular types on the ship, and one she'd "do" in a heartbeat if regs permitted, alas, they did not. Ileen Silo's dark hair and blue eyes were only two of her most enticing features. Her feminine attributes were not only well defined but she had little trouble showing them off. She was among the most beautiful women on the ship, some even told her in the twelve colonies. Her Call sign was Siren for a reason.

She turned around giving a backwards glance at the still drooling Kamen and kept walking till she left the room. Ileen slung her bag over her shoulder and began her daily run. She preferred running around the ship. It felt more real than a treadmill did, and the scenery changed slightly. Her run usually took Ileen around the ships Gym past the armory around the CIC. She would only go through the CIC if she really wanted to get a rise from Commander Veritas. After that it would lead her to the elevator and then down to crew quarters where she would proceed to change into her duty uniform. Daily routines took years of getting used to, and she still expected Cylons around every corner.

"I see you haven't changed since we launched," Came Leeman's voice from ahead of her.

"How's my viper?" Silo yelled back.

"As beautiful as always," Leeman said.

"Keep it that way," She said as she passed him.

Leeman Shara was the Acropolis's deck chief and one of the best in the fleet for that matter. Having served throughout the Cylon war, his face was covered with character. Though not particularly old, his face was weathered, with wrinkles that had formed around his eyes. His hair had gone almost completely gray, but there was still a defiant brown streak across the side of his head of hair and in the minor stubble of his chin.

He walked down the hall towards the Armory where he intended to check out a rifle to practice within the range on the deck. Granted the armory had pistols, but repeating rifles were kept in the armory and Leeman preferred to keep his eyes sharp, just in case something worse than Cylons showed up: like more Cylons.

He walked to the armory door where he nodded at the guard as he handed over his ID card. The guard nodded and unlocked the door for him to enter. After picking out the V-12 assault rifle and rounds to match he headed to the door where he nearly collided with another man.

"Wow," Hendar said, "Sorry, my bad man."

"No problem," Leeman replied noticing Hendar carried a V-12 rifle as well, "I didn't know you were certified for assault rifles."

"Sure as hell am," The younger man said, "If you want we can see who's certified best."

"You're on," Leeman replied, "See you in the range sometime next week."

Hendar nodded, "Wilco."

Hendar managed to effectively pass by Leeman after the two attempted to go through at the same place several times. After disarming the rifle and replacing it its box Hendar headed for the door as well. The clanging sound of the door closing behind him seemed to reverberate around the ship. It reminded him of the Cylon war and all the fights he had been through.

The young man was dark haired, with a well-cut face. He walked with a minor limp after having been shot in the leg during a Cylon raid on the Athena almost six years earlier when he was still a young ensign.

"Hey Hendar!" Cried the familiar voice of Jason Kelly, the ships tactical officer.

"Hello Captain," Hendar said with a sigh, "is there something I can do for you."

"No but you could do something for Ileen," Jason replied with wink and a grin, "Fancy that."

"You will never let my fanciful imaginings go, will you?" Hendar replied.

"Nope," Jason said, "But she does need this report, it's from the commander.

Jason handed the clipboard over to the young man. Hendar took it with a slight grin and turned around and walked in the other direction. Jason chuckled slightly, remembering the days when he too was madly in love with unattainable beauties.

Jason Kelley was one of the ships most seasoned officers, though not longest serving. He had seen fifteen major engagements in the Cylon war and it showed. A huge gash divided his face in two. And his left eye had been lost from a well-placed bullet. Despite all odds he survived the encounter. In addition he was also missing two fingers on his right hand. Not a terrible loss since he was left handed, but he still missed them from time to time.

"Hold it there, Cyclops," came the voice of the ships Tactical Communications officer.

"Celesta, the god of death," Jason replied, "look who's talking."

Celesta laughed at the joke, "I haven't killed anyone in my life, hardly a fitting name is it?"

"What is it you want?" Jason asked perhaps more harshly than he had intended.

Celesta backed away at Jason's harsh retort, "Just wanted to ask you if you would have lunch with me?"

"Oh," Jason said, sheepishly "Sorry, I'd love to, mess hall 13:30?"

"Sounds good," Celesta said with a beaming smile.

She walked with him into the large room that was the CIC. About 30 officers sat around the ships CIC running the various consoles and passing info around. The sound of the Dradis consol could be heard all the way from the second row of consoles where her console sat overlooking the entire command table and tactical area.

Celesta had dark black hair, and deep brown eyes. She wore her hair up in a ponytail above her head with two Tauron chopsticks crossed through it to hold it up. She actually held the rank of major and was therefore second in command of the ship, but she got her rank through her father's high position in the government and not skill, unlike most of the people currently in the room.

"Major," Came the smooth Aerlon accent that belonged to the ships XO.

"Colonel Iolaus," Celesta responded.

"I need the readouts of the latest Viper drill, I hear they weren't up to specs," Iolaus said.

"Yes sir, I'll get them right away," Celesta responded.

The young Major buried herself in the console and moments later produced a print out of the most recent Viper drill and handed it to Iolaus. Sasha took the print out of the viper drill and walked it to the command table. Her deep blue eyes and blond hair made Sasha Iolaus seem like a relatively harmless person. But she was widely known as a serious hard ass around the ship, and she knew it.

"Still riding the Viper jocks?" Veritas asked, glancing up from the command table.

"As hard as always, commander" She said with a grin, "If the XO isn't hated, she's not doing her job."

"Fair enough," Veritas replied, "Still the Viper drill went well enough. Give them some leeway, we've been in space for almost 9 months."

"No excuse to get sloppy," Sasha replied.

Korran Veritas's chiseled face, dark hair and deep green eyes made him a very hard person to cross without some measure of fear. Still Sasha had had little issue with doing so in the past nine months. Korran shook his head at the young XO, who trained for the job instead of earning it. Korran frowned slightly at this thought.

"Let them go for now, if they repeat the poor performance tomorrow you can ride their ass," Korran said.

"Understood, sir," Sasha replied.

"Thank you Colonel."

UNSC Vigilance – Epsilon Indi Patrol – (Present Day)

The heads up display shut down quickly as he removed his helmet. Beneath the curved black visor of his ODST helmet was a weathered face, with a small grey mustache and dark grey hair. Lionel Anderson's grey eyes seemed to emphasize his battle beaten face. The light from the landing bay glinted off his eyes as he began to walk forward.

"Excellent work today boys!" He called out, "Cryo freeze drills suck! We know this, but you did a damn fine job. Keep it up and I might not think you're all a bunch of Marines!"

The ODST teams voices exploded with approval as they began to head towards the mess hall with a daunting eagerness. Lionel pressed his bent forefinger against his moustache as he watched the group of young men and woman who had fought tirelessly for the right to wear the armor that now adorned their shoulders.

"Good men," Came Grants familiar voice, "well trained, glad to have them aboard."

"You better believe it," Lionel's gravelly voiced replied, "these are the best soldiers the UNSC has to offer, and with these uglies tryin' to kill us, were gonna need 'em all."

Dominic nodded his assent with something halfway between a smile and a pained grimace, "Go grab something to eat, my men are up next."

The two nodded at each other and walked in opposite directions. Though Marines were not ODSTs they were still very well trained soldiers capable of a great many things, once they put their minds to it. Dominic was a burly man, with dark skin and a pitch-black beard that framed his face perfectly. His deep black eyes were often considered to be his most haunting feature though. Black eyes were a possible result of genetic manipulation, the kind that occurs once you join the service. They were not only black, but they made him color blind, without his sub-optical implants he still would be seeing in black and white.

He entered the Cryo-chamber where the Marine team that was scheduled for combat drills were still sleeping. The only way to train a marine to get up and go after being thawed out was to put them through the experience as often as possible, make it familiar to them. He remembered his time at the academy going through these drills over and over again.

"You ready to thaw your boys out?"Came Stratton's young voice from behind him.

"The chief engineer is thawing people out now? What happened to the staff?" Dominic teased.

"They are still recovering, not everyone has the same extensive training coming out of Cryo sleep as you and I do," Said Luke.

"I see," Dominic chuckled, "Lets wake them up."

"Opening up the freezer," Luke replied.

Luke Stratton pressed in authorization code into the computer, which caused the thawing process to begin. He set the dosage for the stimulant and flooded the marines systems with it. Shortly thereafter the doors of the Cryo tubes opened up and the marines stumbled out of the pods onto their hands and knees regurgitating what little was left in their stomachs from 3 months ago when they had left Reach.

Luke smirked at Dominic, "And they are all yours."

It was long before the marine captain was screaming at his troops. Stratton exited the room and headed down the corridor towards his standard station in main engineering. It wasn't long before he entered the massive room, filled with the four huge nuclear fusion reactors. The entire room was humming with automated equipment.

Luke's childish face often made him look much younger than he actually was. He was skinny for a military officer but his brains had more than compensated for that in the past. Having perfectly blond hair made him a target for teasing in the academy.

"Hey Blondy!" Came the soft voice of the one major female officer on board.

"Lieutenant Commander, what can I do for you?" He replied turning to face Alana.

"Skipper sent me down here to collect on your reports," Alana replied.

"L.C. you came at the right time, I happen to have them right here on my desk," Luke replied walking over to the small table in the corner of the massive room.

He picked up the holo pad that lay there and handed it to Alana.

Alana Vallace smiled. She took the pad and flipped through the artificial pages to make sure everything the captain had asked for was still there. She nodded at her associate and began to walk towards the door. Her golden hair blew against her face as she passed an array of fans blowing hot air around the room. She had never understood the purpose of those devices.

She exited the overheated engine room and headed for the elevator that led to the main bridge. In truth the bridge was only two decks above her, but unfortunately was just over a kilometer away. That's what she gets for getting a posting on one of the larger vessels in UNSC fleet. Alana entered the huge elevator, which was devoid of other officers as most were still recovering from cryo-sleep.

The lift rose two decks before jerking to a halt where she exited quickly and headed towards the bridge. She would have taken the ships tramway, but she knew she could use the exercise. Already, however, more officers were in the hall, all looking as if they had forgotten what sleep was for a month.

"Vallace," came Marcus's war torn voice from behind her as he rushed by in a salute.

Marcus Varne had been bodybuilding since he was in his early teens, which probably explained his height. He stood at 5 feet 6 inches, but could lift just about any movable object on the ship. In addition he was a great shot with a MAC and had a knack for coordinating heavy strikes with the big guns. His face was scarred and beaten from a battle in which he had done something extremely stupid and pulled off. He ended up winning a medal for his "bravery".

He raced down the Vigilance's hallways. He felt a warm fuzzy sensation rising through his legs as he ran. After being frozen for a quarter of a year it was nice to move again. It was nicer to run. Finally he reached the main bridge. As he passed through the large square entrance way he felt his body come to a halt as his momentum carried him into a solid object.

"Ouch," he said looking up at the much taller Alexander Sabbath, who happened to be the XO of the ship.

"Enjoy your run lieutenant?" Sabbath asked pointedly

"Yes sir," Varne replied.

"Station."

Varne obeyed the order with great alacrity.

The tall dark haired man brushed off his uniform and straightened the wrinkles from his recent collision with the tactical officer. He smiled slightly looking at the short man who now ferociously set up his console as if he had been late for duty. In a way he was, but no one could blame anyone for being a little slow coming out of Cryo. Still every second they couldn't think straight was a second the enemy had to kill them. Fortunately the enemy wasn't here. _'This time'_ Sabbath thought.

"Commander, could I see you in here," came the captains voice from the front of the bridge.

"yes sir," Sabbath replied.

He rounded the corner to see the captain sitting in his chair overlooking the helm and operations consoles. The large window formed around the two consoles allowing both helm and ops to have 270-degree views of the area around them. Beyond the window lay the front of the Vigilance's mighty prow, which now sliced through the emptiness of space like a ship through the sea.

"Is something off, Captain?" Sabbath asked.

Gabriel Halos looked over at his XO, leaning back in his chair, Halos brought up a holographic display of some form of space vessel. It had a pointed front that looked like some form of head, reminiscent of an alligator. It had two pontoons, which appeared to be held in place by two thick anchor points that attached to a long thinner hull section, behind that was a large thruster assembly with four large thrusters of some kind.

"What do you imagine that is?"Gabriel asked pointing at the ship.

"Some form of space ship, not alien, it looks more human in origin," Sabbath replied.

"My thoughts exactly." Gabriel said, "besides it being of unknown design it also seems to be unaware of our presence as of yet."

"Have we tried to make contact?"Sabbath asked.

"Yes, no response … yet," Gabriel replied standing up, and as he did so the holographic display faded into nonexistence, "but it's dead ahead and we are closing fast."

"Do you think that this could be a new Insurrection ship sir?" asked Sabbath

"Sir," came the voice of the ensign from the ops console before Halos could respond "we are picking up a signal from the vessel. It's in short wave radio."

"Radio?" Gabriel pondered for a moment, "Can we translate it?"

"One moment sir," the ensign said his hands moving across the holo-display in front of him, "I got it."

_This is Battlestar Acropolis to unknown vessel. You cannot be identified. Identify yourself or you will be fired upon._

"What's a battlestar?" Sabbath asked.

"I presume that is," He said pointing out the window where the formerly holographic ship floated in front of them, "And boy she's a big one."

* * *

A/n And there you have it folks. Hope you enjoyed chapter one of Embers of War, there will be more to come soon as my friend who does the bulk of the writing is already well into chapter 2. However as embers go they only burst into flame when fueled, in this case our fuel is reviews or heck just visits to the story alone get us as excited as a puppy on crack. With that disturbing thought, I leave you.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I and my friend who are co-authors of this story own neither Battlestar Galactica and it's affiliates nor Halo and any of it's affiliates this story is written for entertainment purposes only.

Two Worlds

Battlestar Acropolis– Hangar Deck

She pulled the helmet over her head and looked down at her viper's controls. The cockpit was filled with dials a switches as well as an array of colored lights. Ileen looked over towards the young officer who stood in the launch tube. He nodded that he was ready for launch. She nodded back. There was a huge humming sound as the light from the hangar deck stopped reflecting off the cockpit window of her viper. Moments after the tremendous clang of the back launch door closing reached her ears the humming resumed accompanied by a high pitched hiss as the air in the launch tube met the dark vacuum of space.

"Tube eight go for launch," came the voice of the young ensign.

Ileen gave the young man thumbs up. As if someone had laid an anvil on her chest, she felt the G-forces take hold of her body as the viper accelerated towards the end of the launch tube. After watching dozens of wall segments fly by her viper window she was ejected into space. The weight from her chest was almost immediately lifted as the acceleration stopped.

She hit the throttle pedal with her foot and felt the acceleration once again lay a weight on her, but it was gentler this time as her thrusters now controlled her speed instead of the launch mechanism of the mighty battlestar that was now behind her. She glanced behind her to see the name ACROPOLIS emboldened on the ships flight pod.

"All right boys, we are to engage only if engaged," She called out, "keep in mind we have no idea who or what they are, and we probably won't know until we get within visual range, those of you outfitted with snapshot cameras will take pictures and return to Acropolis, the rest of you will be flying patrol around this thing until we can determine what to do with it."

There was a positive reply from all her pilots as they acknowledged her order. As she flew towards the Dradis contact she began to see the outlines of a shape. It seemed to be made up of four segments. The first two were short and seemed to make up the vessels prow, behind them was a larger segment that held very little of particular interest. It was underlined, however, by two massive constructions that resembled some kind of massive gun. This was attached to the fourth segment that was more curved in its center than the rest and led to some kind of thruster assembly that was protected by the ships hull, which seemed to cover the thrusters themselves. All Ileen could see was a massive blue glow emitting from the vessels rear.

"Dear god, this thing is a flying wall!" Came a pilots voice from her helmet COM.

"Keep the chatter down guys," Ileen replied, "We don't want them to think we are idiots do we?"

"We have more dradis contacts, much smaller," Another pilots voice echoed.

Indeed, on the Dradis screen that was dead in front of her, Ileen saw five more contacts, much smaller, all reading 'unknown'. She looked in front of her and saw as the vessel ahead of her grew larger with each passing moment. From the side of the ship appeared five smaller dots. They seemed to be strike craft of some kind, but were far fewer in number. The smaller vessels had a slightly thicker central section from which were attached two large engines that supported large curved delta wings. Its wings ending in an incline and the vessel possessing a large tail.

The five massive "strike craft" shot over her viper as they passed her. The only thing she could see for certain in her brief glance was that these ships were not the Cylon raiders she remembered. They were much larger to begin with, possibly a hundred meters in width, and long enough to give her pause.

"If those were Cylons, I think we would be bug's on a windshield," Came a pilot's voice.

"Speak for yourself loophole, I'd rip one of them to shreds," another pilot cockily responded.

"They don't look like Cylons to me, that ship is far to modular in its construction," A third pilot chimed in.

"Yeah it looks more Colonial than Cylon," Loophole responded.

"Colonial my ass, that ship ain't half the girl the Acropolis is," The second pilot responded.

"Snap shot Pilots! SNAP YOUR SHOTS!" Ileen interrupted,

"Yes sir," was the resounding voices reply.

As the pilots kept yammering about the new ship they had stumbled upon several vipers broke formation and darted towards the massive vessel, before making huge end to end flips and flying back towards the battlestar which was now but a spec in the distance.

"If they aren't Colonial, why didn't they shoot us down with PDGs or something," asked Loophole.

"Maybe they don't have any?" Came the second pilots voice again.

"Are you kidding? Did you see those big guns tracking us on our photo run?" came a fourth pilots voice.

"Maybe they know we'd kick their collective ass!" The third pilot shouted, which was accepted by the viper squadrons with a cheer.

"Enough is enough ladies," Ileen shouted into microphone, "cut the chatter!"

UNSC Vigilance - Bridge

The smaller, sleek airplane like vessel consisting of a pilot's seat, two engines from which sprouted two small wings, and a large tail, bolted past the bridge window with astonishing speed. Beyond the window dozens more of the small craft were waiting.

"Should we shoot them down," Marcus asked.

"Negative," Gabriel replied, "They don't pose any threat yet."

"Sir, they could be insurrectionists," Sabbath said standing next to Gabriel's chair, "if they are they could be imaging our ship for weaknesses."

"They've seen Marathon class cruiser's before, if only rarely" Gabriel replied, "If they are insurrectionists they are either morons or fools to have not turned tail yet."

"Sir we have matched their radio frequency," Alana said from forward ops console as she relieved the ensign that had been attempting to fill in.

"She's on the bridge for five seconds and she does the job, damn," Sabbath said.

Gabriel leaned forward in his seat. He looked out at the large ship that was only barely in visible range. The ship he saw must be huge in order for one to see it from this far away. He looked over at Alana as she began to translate the microphone output into the radio waves they were receiving.

"You're on the horn, captain," Alana said.

"This is the UNSC Vigilance contacting unknown vessel. We have received your request of information and general warning. We would ask you to declare your purpose for being in this system and to request that you identify your allegiance immediately," Gabriel said.

There was a pause in the repeating message and then the sound of a connection on the other end crackled through the intercom, "This is the Battlestar Acropolis, we are with the Colonial fleet. Our mission is general threat patrol. We have no other allegiance."

Sabbath made a neck slicing motion towards Gabriel. Nodding Gabriel shut the COM link off.

"They are insurrectionists. 'Colonial Military?' Who else would use that?" Sabbath said.

"If they were they would have started jumping to slipspace by now, or shooting at us." Gabriel pointed out, "besides we have never seen this design before today. Even if it is insurrectionist they would have had to pour every available resource they had into building that thing, and that, we would have noticed."

"Maybe so," Sabbath replied, "what if its alien."

"Does that look anything like an alien ship to you?" Gabriel asked, "for one it's not purple, or shooting globs of plasma at us."

Sabbath nodded leaning against the wall that separated the command area from the rest of the bridge. He thought for a moment and finally he seemed satisfied by Gabriel's argument.

Gabriel hit the COM button again, "This is Captain Gabriel Halos of the UNSC Vigilance, to whom am I speaking?"

"This is Commander Korran Veritas of the Acropolis, we do not have you listed in the Colonial fleets register, what is your affiliation?" The man on the other end of the line said.

"We are of the United Nations Space Command," Gabriel replied.

There was a moment of silence on the other end, "What planet are you based from?" Veritas inquired.

"We are based off of our colony of Harvest," Gabriel said simply.

" Your colony? As in you control more than one planet?" Veritas asked.

"Yes, our government controls several worlds." said Halos "Not least of which is Earth." He said that last part more to himself than intending for his words to be heard. He paused after he heard the other end of the line go dead.

Battlestar Acropolis - CIC

"That's bullshit!" Sasha said, "The 13th tribe is little more than a myth. We have no proof they exist."

"It seems the proof of which you speak is talking to us from that vessel," Korran replied, "regardless I would like more proof that we have run into our long lost brothers and sisters than their word."

"And what if it's a trick?" Sasha said.

"A trick to what end?" Korran replied.

Sasha seemed to have no answer to his last question. Looking around CIC he saw the faces of every man and woman starring down at the command table with a mysterious hunger that was seldom found outside of movies. Looking back at Sasha he clenched his hands and picked up the phone again.

"Are you of the thirteenth tribe?" Koran asked slowly.

Viper 248 – Siren

Ileen held her viper steady as she stared at the massive hulk of a ship in front of her. As she passed by the bow slowly she read the words _UNSC Vigilance _painted on the side in large white letters much like the Acropolis's name was painted on the battlestars hull.

As Ileen pulled the throttle to the left she felt her maneuvering thrusters fire as steam shot out of the viper's port nose. She turned away from the _Vigilance _and made a loop and came back around to stare down the bow of the massive warship. She eyed the massive cannon that was placed in front of a small indentation in the ships second section. Looking carefully she saw several people standing behind a glass wall. They were all human in appearance but they were not wearing the blue military uniform of the Colonial's instead they wore a grey uniform, with similar styles. While they were too far away to make out any real detail, it was obvious that this was not a colonial military vessel. For one, no one used UNSC as a part of the name.

_'What was that representative of anyway?'_ Ileen wondered.

"Captain, this is Acropolis actual, do you copy?" Came Commander Veritas's voice over the speakers.

"Loud and clear," Ileen replied.

"Bring our birds home," Veritas said, "I believe we may be fulfilling the prophecy of Tanginea."

"The reunifications of the 13 tribes," Ileen replied disbelievingly, "You mean you think this belongs to Earth?"

"I do," Veritas replied.

"Okay boys, let's go home. We won't be kicking any ass today," Ileen said trying to keep the shock out of her voice.

She spun her viper around and headed for the distant battlestar. Hitting the thruster pedal she accelerated. Her head was filled with thoughts of the scrolls of Tanginea, the prophet who predicted the reunification of the 13 tribes several thousand years ago, and was, until now at least, considered something of a fool.

What was once a small Battlestar shaped object was now a massive leviathan of metal in front of her. She maneuvered her viper quickly into position. With the flight pods massive triangular entrance in front of her she pulled back on the throttle and felt the deceleration pull her forward. The deck grew larger with each passing second until her viper passed through the entrance. Now surrounded by the flight pods massive walls she pointed the vipers nose towards the deck, seconds later she pulled up as her landing gear opened and collided with deck. She felt a massive jolt as the ships gravity took over and her viper slid to a stop. She looked to her right to see another viper touchdown, its landing gear emitting sparks as it made contact with the floors surface.

Moments later men in EVA suits were attaching ropes to her viper as they hooked her bird up to a pilot car which proceeded to drag the viper towards the elevator that lead down to the hangar deck. As her viper was properly aligned the elevator descended, and the magnetic locks on the cables were detached allowing the viper to freely descend.

The now open area closed above her in silence, and seconds afterwards air visibly poured into the small vertical shaft down which she was descending. Moments later a humming sound and a bright light indicated that the door leading to the hangar deck itself had opened. Shorty thereafter the shafts walls were replaced with a busy hangar deck. Dozens of men and women darted around carrying spare parts and clipboards doing gods only knew what. Two of these men grabbed her viper cockpit window after unlocking the seals and pulled. A hissing sound reach Ileens ears as her artificial atmosphere met that of the ships hangar bay. With that the top slid off and Ileen pushed herself out of her cockpit. She quickly freed herself from her harness and she leaped over the side of her viper before anyone could bring her a stairway.

"Has the Commander gone mad, or have we actually run into the 13th tribe?" She demanded of Leeman who happened to be working on a raptor that was docked next to her vipers current location.

Leeman pushed himself out from under the Raptor and sat up, "How the hell would I know?"

"You've been on the ship," Ileen pointed out.

"And that means I know what this is any more than you do?" Leeman said running a greasy hand through his grey hair, "listen I'm not one who enjoys science fiction, but history suggests we may have distant brothers, if that is true, than its possible."

"Not one for science fiction? You work on a spaceship Chief," Ileen said as she unbuttoned her flight suite, "I hope you get the irony of your statement."

Ileen pulled off her heavy, hot suit and slung it over her shoulder and marched away, "Irony is just one of those things you can't escape," Leeman's voice yelled after her.

"Just like fate," Ileen yelled over her shoulder, "get my bird back in perfect condition. I want my face shining in its hull by morning."

Battlestar Acropolis – Ships Temple of the Gods

Celesta walked into the large room. It stretched out in front of her, inviting her in. In the center stood an alter on which an array of candles had been set up, all of which were lit and constantly attended to. She walked down through the large room, her footstep echoed around. Kneeling down in the front row she pulled out her small bronze statue of Hera.

"I don't pray often," Celesta said, "but I feel as if now would be a good day to, as I don't know what to think. Could this truly be the prophecy coming true, or are we all just swept away in our own hope and imagination?"

Her question was met with silence. She was about to put the statue away when a hand touched her shoulder; she jumped up and turned around. In front of her stood a tall woman with golden hair, tied behind her head and braided. She wore an elegant robe of royal purple with gold embroidery and her eyes had a calming sensation of some kind.

"Who are you?" Celesta asked.

"I had no desire to startle you, I am a priest like any other," She said, her voice seemed almost ethereal in its calm depth, and the temple's echoing walls amplified the effect.

"Of what god?" Celesta asked.

"Does it matter?" The priestess asked, "You had a question and I have an answer."

"An answer, to my question?"Celesta asked.

"To one of them, yes," The priestess replied, "The journey is a long road, always twisting and turning, but the truth can be found in the hearts of those who listen."

UNSC Vigilance – Captains Quarters

Gabriel sat looking at his desk, which was positioned in the far corner of his quarters' main room. A small light on his desk illuminated him, and the surface he was writing on while much dimmer lights illuminated the rest of the area. Around the room were placed several simple pieces of furniture, and a small cupboard of necessary supplies, such as food and drink for when he was off duty.

To his left was an automatic transparent door with the UNSCs emblem in white etched into the glass surface. Through the door could be seen a small bed with white sheets and a pillow. Next to the bed was one of the few windows that overlooked the ships starboard side. On his desk in front of Gabriel was a holographic pad that contained several pages worth of writing. It was a funding request to ONI. The grant request spoke of highly classified research project that began in the early 2500s.

According to the article itself, around 2503 a scientist named Doctor Richard Gibbs uncovered a stone tablet that was carbon dated at almost 9,000 years old, which predates all other signs of writing by almost 2000 years. The text was in an ancient Sumerian dialect that had no key. Almost ten years had been spent working out a linguistic key, in 2512 that key had been uploaded to all UNSC databases should they encounter anything of the same dialect in space. This was put into action due to the increasing number of discoveries of Forerunner artifacts. Gabriel put his hand on the holo page and flicked it to the side. The holo page followed his hand and flickered into nonexistence.

Once translated into a format that could be relatively understood, this tablet had spoken of 13 tribes that had come to their home in a great caravan of the stars. After finding their home, they supposedly destroyed their caravan to live out their life in peace. Gabriel pushed the article aside and leaned back in his chair and sighed. A knock came at his door.

"Enter," Gabriel said.

The door slid open with a dull clang and a pneumatic hiss. Alexander Sabbath walked through the door. The light from the hall way flooded the room for a brief moment before the door hissed shut with another clang. Sabbath snapped to attention, raising his hand to his temple in rigid military fashion. Gabriel returned the gesture allowing his XO to stand at ease.

"What is it Alex?" Gabriel asked sitting back down.

"I wanted to talk about these," he paused for a moment looking for the right words, "new arrivals."

"Fair enough," Gabriel responded, leaning back in his office chair, "what is it you want to talk about?"

"How can you be sure they are not insurrectionists?" Sabbath asked, "I still don't believe they are telling the truth. I mean what sort of bullshit is this 13th tribe they are asking us about?"

"This kind," Gabriel said sliding the holo pad over to his XO, "that is a grant request and article on a stone tablet found in Samaria almost 25 years ago. It speaks of 13 tribes that came to their home in a caravan of the stars."

"What does archeology have to do with anything?" Alex insisted, "We are military officers not bona-fide grave diggers."

"I see your opinion of archeology isn't high," Gabriel said, raising his eyebrows "Look Alex, that article is classified. It was rather difficult to get my hands on it, I ended up going back to a couple of my old ONI contacts to get it. I risked a lot by contacting them out here.

"How did you find it?" Alex said picking up the tablet and reading it.

"I started by looking up this so called Thirteenth Tribe in our database. I ended up digging far enough to find references to the Thirteenth Tribe, a place called Kobol, and a stone tablet. Mostly rumors. After that I managed to pull a favor in ONI high command to confirm the existence of this article," Gabriel said, "I ended up needing to go to my mentor and friend al-Cygni to actually get a hold of the damn thing."

"Why trust the new arrivals, though?" Sabbath replied.

"I don't trust them yet," Gabriel began, "And yet at the same time Alex we are immersed in the greatest war we have ever known, fighting an enemy far superior to us in technology, and likely superior in numbers too. We don't even know what they call themselves as a race. That ship out there is huge, and obviously powerful. From the guns' measurements and the length of their hull our longswords estimated that they could give us a run for our money, if not outright defeat us in an engagement. We could use a few more ships like that on our side. So let's say there are 20 of these colonies out there with a fleet of equivalent, or even greater strength than our own who may be able to lend us aid in our fight against the aliens. Wouldn't you want to find out if they would be willing to do just that, and lend us aid?"

"I see your point," Sabbath replied placing the holo pad back on the table, "so you believe they could help us in this fight?"

"We would never know if we shot at them," Gabriel replied getting up and walking to the window that was right behind him, "Out there lies our greatest enemy, and quite possibly our salvation," He made a sweeping motion with his hand, "We can neither give in, nor can we attack. We are stuck in a form of military limbo that will only cost lives, the chance to get help is worth the risk in this case." He chuckled at that, "Great now I feel like I'm in some sort of movie, talking like this."

Battlestar Acropolis – CIC

The CIC buzzed with life as dozens of officers made their way through the large room bringing boxes of papers or envelops of information to various stations in the amphitheater like arrangement of the CIC consoles. The comforting hum of the engines could still be heard over the noise of the people and machinery that surrounded him. Korran stood at the command table opposite Sasha who was preoccupied with several sheets of paper that were sprawled across the glowing white surface.

Korran, however, stood looking up at the dradis console, which still registered the red blinking 'unknown' target that only a few minutes ago had finally identified itself. If they were truly of the thirteenth tribe it was quite possible that their history had not been preserved as adequately as the colonials. Despite the doubt that Korran held, he had decided he would pursue this 'first contact', for lack of a better word, as if they were the thirteenth tribe.

"You really think they are the thirteenth tribe of Kobol?" Sasha asked looking up from her paper work, "Because to be perfectly honest, I don't believe in their existence, unfortunately I'm at a loss for any other explanation."

"Sir we have an incoming printout from Colonial fleet headquarters. Admiral Hogan has responded," Hendar shouted over the bustling CIC.

Korran turned around and took the sheet of paper that Hendar was holding out to him. Placing it on the glowing surface of the command table Korran spread it flat and read the response of the admiral.

_Commander Veritas,_

_However unlikely the reunification of the 12 colonies and the 13__th__ colony actually is we are prepared to accept the possibility. Despite several reservations on my part and others, we are authorizing you to discuss a possible political relationship between our two governments. If they are indeed who they claim to be, we look forward to future cooperation with them. End of Message_

_-Admiral Brandon Hogan_

Korran sighed and looked up at his XO, "Looks like the military headquarters and the Quorum of 12 responded quickly for a change. They have given us the go to pursue political relations with them."

"That's almost ridiculous," Sasha replied, "I've never seen the Quorum reply to anything that fast."

"Apparently military opinion and civilian welfare can take a back seat to religion," Korran replied, "I guess it's time we extend an offer of peace to these people."

"Great, now battlestars are sent on political errands, next thing we know we will be responsible for shipping accidents too," Sasha said, "I guess all in all that's not the worst fate for a noble ship like this one."

"I spent years at war, Sasha, "Korran replied, "Part of me misses it, and the rest of me would rather never to see it again."

Sasha hung her head a moment, "I never saw any combat, I was busy in the academy. I wanted to do my part, but the war ended so quickly."

"Pray you never have the chance to prove yourself in battle," Korran said, "many who get to don't come out of it alive." He then turned

"Celesta," Korran said, "put me through to the Vigilance."

"Yes sir," Celesta said grabbing the phone that was embedded in her console, "This is the Battlestar Acropolis to the UNSC Vigilance, Acropolis actual would like to have a word."

UNSC Vigilance –Captains Quarters

Moments after Alex had walked out into the crew filled hallway that lay just beyond his quarters, the COM relay in Gabriel's quarters buzzed. He looked over at the blinking solid object. He grumbled slightly before reaching over and activating it.

"Go ahead," Gabriel said.

"Captain, Acropolis actual would like to speak with you," Came Alana's voice over the speakers.

"Very well," Gabriel replied, "patch him through to me here."

"This is Acropolis actual," Veritas's voice crackled through the speakers.

Wincing at the bad sound quality Gabriel pushed the 'open microphone' button on the COM relay, "This is the Captain of the Vigilance, what is it you wish to speak about."

"Captain," Veritas said, "I would like to extend an invitation to dine aboard my vessel this evening, as a show of good faith."

"I see, what type of contingent can I bring?" Gabriel asked, mildly surprised by the sudden friendliness of his counterpart.

"A full platoon if you'd like, captain, but I don't think we would be feeding all of them." Veritas responded.

Gabriel smiled, he was beginning to like this guy, or his sense of humor at least. "I accept your offer, and will arrive at 17:30 shipboard time."

"Our shipboard time 18:25 now," Veritas replied, "I think we are going to have to speak in hours, if you use those."

"In four 60 minute periods," Gabriel replied. He grimaced and hoped he didn't insult the ships commander with his statement.

"Four hours it is," Veritas replied, "I look forward to meeting you in person, Acropolis out."

The static went dead on the other end. Gabriel stood up and deactivated his COM link. He suspected that this meeting would end up rather interesting.

Battlestar Acropolis – Deck 44 Gym

Ileen pushed the heavy weight up the track with her leg. She held her leg steady as her muscles began to shake. She counted to ten in her head before letting the heavy weight down slowly. Taking a deep breath she braced herself against the rack and pushed it up a second time repeating the process. She felt the sweat beading up on her forehead as she continued to work out. The sound of a heavy tritanium door opening on its hinges echoed through the room, as did the sound of the same door slamming shut. After completing her third leg lift she looked up to see Celesta walk in her off duty uniform.

"I don't usually see you here," Ileen said, "I thought you were still on duty?"

"Technically I am," Celesta said sitting down on a bench next to Ileen and grabbing one of the weights in her hand and doing a curl, "however, we are eating with the captain and some of his crew of our neighboring ship so we were given permission to shower and exercise early."

"Oh, I see," Ileen said, "I guess I didn't get the invite."

"Actually I was also asked to tell you to get your full dress on, I know you love it so much," Celesta said, "you'll be joining us for dinner."

"Great," Ileen replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice "Full dress is my favorite part of the military."

"I like it," Celesta said, "All fancy and perfect. I feel at home in it."

"You grew up in Caprican politics," Ileen teased, "You _would_ like full dress."

"And you hate it because you can't get it off, fast enough," Celesta jested back, "too many buttons."

Ileen scoffed looking at the black haired major, and threw her a playful punch, "at least I get sex."

"I'm not that young, Captain," Celesta said, "but I pick and choose my men. I don't sleep with everything I see."

Ileen smiled, before her face grew serious along with her voice "Do you really think this is the 13th tribe?"

"I actually spoke to the priest in the temple onboard," Celesta said, "She told me to believe my heart."

"Yeah, typical priest talk," Ileen said, before knitting her brows together "I didn't even know we had one. Anyway, has your heart enunciated anything of interest."

"I think they might be the 13th tribe, I just have a feeling," Celesta responded pensively, "you know that feeling you get when you know that you know something but you can't remember it."

"Like how to tell your friend that they are crazy," Ileen retorted, "yeah I know the feeling."

Laughing the two kept exercising in the battlestars gym. She was not looking forward to a dinner in a hot, sweaty, over buttoned full dress uniform. She let out a sigh.

UNSC Vigilance – Hangar Deck

Gabriel walked onto the massive hangar deck. Dozens of warthogs and scorpion tanks parked in their various designated parking spots. A Pelican had been dragged out into the open and several officers were inspecting the large birds engines and main structural break points. The young, fair-faced chief engineer had taken a personal interest in inspecting the Pelican as well. He was halfway inside the transports armoring and was relentlessly poking and prodding at an open fuel line.

"How's she looking?" Gabriel asked, "Will she make it?"

"Oh it's nothing captain," Luke said, climbing out of the pelican "I was just tightening several fuel lines. The vacuum of space has a way of causing issues with pressurized lines over time."

"Well we have to be there in fifteen minutes or we'll be late," Gabriel said.

"You sure you'll be safe?" Alexander asked with a concerned look on his face, "At least take a marine squad with you, this could be an insurrectionist trap."

"I thought we already discussed this, Alex." Gabriel replied sharply, "I'll be fine. You just take care of this ship till I get back."

"Yes sir," Alex replied.

"Marcus, are you and Alana ready?" Gabriel said turning towards the two officers.

They were both dressed in their white full dress uniforms, each with a cap and golden buttoned shirt. Their crisp uniforms looked freshly laundered though they were likely spotless beforehand, and their caps rested on their heads shielding their eyes from the harsh glare of the overhead lights.

"Yes sir," The two replied with a salute.

Luke jumped down from the Pelican and waved both his hands as if he were some royal escort helping a king enter his carriage, "Please, welcome aboard Pelican airlines."

Gabriel smiled and jumped into the Pelican's troop bay, "Pilots you ready to go!" He yelled up front.

"Ready to get the party underway skipper," Came an enthusiastic reply from the cockpit.

Taking a seat he watched as his comrades in arms climbed aboard the Pelican. After the three passengers had come aboard the two loading doors closed shut with a mechanical wine and a metallic clang. The craft was outfitted for fifteen marines and being only three people Gabriel felt as if they were wasting the space. Moments after the door shut the load roar of the Pelicans engines reached his ears as they surged to life. There was jolt in his stomach as the large bird took off and headed for the hangar bay door.

Gabriel watched through the cockpit window, which was a fair distance away as the pelican maneuvered into the airlock chamber. The whole bird lurched as the vessel came to a halt. The sound of the massive flight doors closing sent vibrations through the pelican's hull. Moments later the exterior door opened and the atmosphere around the Pelican blew out into space. Inside, however, they felt no change in pressure.

Gabriel's hand braced his body against the doorframe as the Pelican accelerated out into space towards the large unfamiliar vessel. Despite the now short distance between the two ships, they were still flown in an escort by two longswords. From the cockpit window they heard the Pilots being walked through the landing procedure, the longswords peeling off to return to the Vigilance. Slowly the pilots brought the craft about to face one of the strange pontoon shaped hangars. They began to descend towards the large triangular opening on the rear end of the construct. Shortly thereafter they entered the pod and began to slow down. A sense of unease filled Gabriel's stomach as the ship made a u-turn in the confined space and landed. The door however, did not open. He was about to ask the pilots what was going on when the whole bird shook and began to descend. Looking out the window the trio watched as the hangar disappeared and was eventually replaced by a large deck filled with the small strike craft they had seen earlier that day.

Lining the hangar deck were several hundred officers, at least, all standing at attention. The Pelican jolted as the elevator they had been riding came to a halt.

"Remember, they speak a form of ancient Sumerian," Alana said, "I have outfitted our neural implants to translate auditory communication into English, I also made it so these small microphones we are wearing should translate what we say into their language as well"

"Understood," Gabriel said, "However, should that fail we can always resort to banging the table with our fists and grunting." The three grinned at that and Marcus gave a lighthearted chuckle.

The doors to the pelican hissed open and a man with dirty blond hair and a chiseled face stood at the front of the long row of officers. He snapped to attention and seconds later the rest of the officers had all snapped to attention as well. Gabriel walked down the loading ramp and once on the surface of the massive triangular hangar deck he snapped to attention as well. Alana and Marcus did the same as soon as they had entered the deck. The two commanding officers let their salutes down together, almost as if it had been planned. Both sides followed suit.

"I am Commander Veritas of the Battlestar Acropolis," The commander said holding out his hand, "welcome aboard."

"I am Captain Halos of the Vigilance," Gabriel responded, "Glad to be aboard, we have a lot to talk about. However this meeting of ours will have to be cut rather short, my people are in the middle of a very pressing conflict, and I do need to get back and report."

"Indeed," Veritas said shaking Halos' hand, "I regret that we will not be able to spend several hours discussing things with one another."

"I have been authorized by my superiors to begin relations with your respective government and part of that would involve hammering out trade routes and possible even military assistance or advisement."

Halos rose his eyebrows at that, "You mean that you would send military aid to us immediately?"

"No, I don't believe that that is what my superiors have in mind, we only finished a war of our own several years ago." Veritas replied, "That does not mean that we won't assist you, while we aren't going to go to all out war for you, we would be happy to provide what supplies we could as well as refuge for civilians. But this discussion belongs somewhere else, come, the mess hall is this way."

The two commanding officers and their chosen dining partners made their way towards the staircase that led up and out of the hangar bay.

Battlestar Acropolis – Captains Quarters – two hours later

Korran closed the door behind him, and sat down on his leather couch in the far corner of his quarter's main room. He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his full dress uniform and pulled his golden sash off. He had just negotiated the groundwork of what would hopefully become a trade route between Caprica and a UNSC colony name Reach. He never thought he'd see the day he was hammering out trade routes. A knock came at his door.

"Enter," Korran said with a heavy sigh.

A woman with hair that had been braided into a long ponytail entered the room, her royal purple robes dragged on the ground behind her. Golden embroidery covered the robes in an astonishing array of designs.

"Commander Veritas," She said, "I am a priestess at the temple on board, and I have a message from the gods."

"I don't mean to be rude, but I don't really believe in the gods," Veritas said.

"It is a message you must here anyway," The priestess said, "You have denied the 13th tribe once, and you will twice again, but on the fourth time, you will concede, and the embers of war will once again burn across the colonies."

Veritas put his hand to his forehead and looked down, "listen, I really don't mean to be rude …" he looked up, but the priestess was gone.

* * *

A/n heh heh hope you all enjoyed the second installment of our story. As it stands I am running behind on posting these things and with Thanksgiving coming up it will be difficult if at all possible to put anything up. Afterwards however, expect a large influx of new levels of badassery and the like. As I said before, reviews keep us going and just plain views get us excited and feeling like we are actually important people. Until next time...


	3. Sins of Guilt and God

Disclaimer: We do not own Halo or Battlestar Galactica, nor do we own any of their affiliates, they and their respective affiliates belong to their appropriate owners. That does not however mean that we wish we did own said universes as that would be totally and ridiculously awesome, probably the reason we read/write fanfiction at all anyway.

I as the one who posts the story would like to say that we have officially garnered our first flamer! Yay! and best of all it only took two chapters! Now then I have a couple things to say to Mr. not brave enough to use his own pen-name, those being that if it came down to it the UNSC would likely be able to defeat the Colonial Military on account of MAC weaponry being ungodly powerful and having far superior nuclear ordnance technology. In the story you have to remember that as a UNSC officer seeing a battlestar for the first time (which in the Acropolis' case it'a just over a mile long) it's a big ship, with lots of guns and plenty of armor to look at, as such a conservative approach is best so as to not underestimate your potential adversary. It in now way reflects our opinion on who would win between the two in a showdown. And besides the 12 Colonies have colonies of their own, otherwise supporting their fleet of several hundred ships would be logistically impossible for them. And if you even paid attention to half of Galactica you would realize that most of the characters in that show paid little heed to religion so religious nutjobs is a bit overboard. Now that i've effectively ripped your pathetic little tirade to little pieces I suggest that you start as you so eloquently put it "suck my own dick"

I apologize to our viewers for that but you see I have a great dislike for flamers who provide absolutely nothing of value to the author in terms of making a story better. Now then considering how much heat that one flame gave off and to celebrate our first flame for the story why don't we all gather around it and make some smores? In any case I've kept you long enough, here is chapter 3.

Sins of Guilt and God

UNSC Vigilance –Captain's Quarters

"So are they insurrectionists or this mysterious colonial military?" Alexander asked.

Gabriel sighed as he unbuttoned his full dress uniform and pulled the coat off feeling the immense relief, "they aren't insurrectionists," Gabriel replied finally as he hung the coat in the closest and shut the door with a hiss.

"So they really are these lost 12 tribes of Kobol that no one knew about until this morning?" Alex asked, "I just don't believe that's the case."

"Alex, I was digging up lies and hidden information for almost a decade before I joined the UNSC 2 years ago, I know what to look for" Gabriel replied sitting down in his chair straitening his undershirt, "the insurrectionists were vicious fighters, and good interrogators when they wanted to be, but one thing they never had much of was a good competent and solid leadership. These men were a full blown, highly organized military."

"Well then I'm with you that they are not insurrectionists, but I can't wrap my head around the other half," Alex replied, "maybe they are a civilian private military corporation we've never heard about."

"There hasn't been a PMC on Earth or its colonies since Phoenix corps was run in," Gabriel said, "Besides we would have noticed immediately if anyone was funneling the finances and military grade resources that it would have taken to build that ship."

Alex sighed, sitting down across the table, "so it's back to Sherlock Holmes huh? When you strip away the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

"Precisely," Gabriel replied after pausing to look at his XO for a moment, "it looks like our day tomorrow may get very busy."

"Captain," Came Alana's voice over the intercom each word spoken with heavy breaths in between, "sir we have a problem."

"What is it?" Gabriel asked.

"Sir two crewmen were found on deck 21, they were murdered," She said.

"Murdered?" Gabriel asked grabbing his pistol from his desk, "no one would do that."

Gabriel and Alexander raced towards the door. Opening it they made a quick turn to the right and ran. Moments later they were on the bridge's level and racing towards it. They came across Alana standing over two bodies wearing UNSC uniforms. They were the two marines stationed to guard the bridge in the event of a boarding party.

"Who would have the skills to kill two marines?" Alex panted, "these men weren't exactly undertrained."

"Someone with equal or greater training, "Gabriel said, "Alex, we have a killer on board."

Alex and Gabriel looked at each other before they looked at Alana, "Did you see who did this?"

"No," Alana said, "But I heard them. The sound of a knife cutting through flesh is audible if you have good enough ears."

Gabriel bent down over the dead marine and pulled the corpse hard enough that it rolled over. Its arms and legs fell randomly into a sprawled position, where the cold face of the dead man stared up at Gabriel, the glassy eyes glazed over. A trickle of blood fell from the mouth and ran down the side of his face.

From the dead marine's chest protruded a standard issue combat knife. It was buried almost three inches into the poor man's flesh, directly into the heart. Gabriel examined the knife's hilt closely. It was an unremarkable standard combat knife, meaning it could have belonged to any marine onboard, it also meant that there would be no fingerprints on it(1).

"Well?" Alana asked.

"This knife was thrown from about five meters," Gabriel said, "judging by the depth of the blade and its weight."

He looked at the other marine, which was leaning in a sitting position against a wall. Blood had soaked through the officer's shirt where he had been stabbed in the jugular. Gabriel leaned over the body. The knife was missing from the man's belt. Gabriel sat back.

"This man was killed with his own knife," Gabriel said, "to throw a knife like that with dead on accuracy and to kill a marine with his own blade, only one kind of soldier has that ability that is currently aboard this ship."

"An ODST," Alex said, "the best of the best. Why would such a highly esteemed soldier do something like this?"

"I have no idea," Gabriel replied, "but whatever his reasons, we better find him before someone else looses their life."

Battlestar Acropolis – Hangar Deck

Ileen leaned against the large support beam staring at the ground. Images of her past flashed before her, echoes of memories she had long ago put behind her. Shaking her head she turned around to come face to face with Leeman. He was standing right behind her. She gave a start out of surprise.

"Well, you're not being creepy," She remarked.

"No, I was being polite," Leeman replied as Ileen walked away, "you're not the only one with a memory you know."

"Yeah, mine just hurts more," Ileen said.

"Listen you and I don't always see eye to eye," Leeman said, "but we share a past littered with the pain of war."

Ileen turned around, "No we don't," Ileen said, "I have a past littered with what war can take from a person. You're just an old man whose seen too much of it to care anymore."

"Maybe you should say that to your reflection Ileen," Leeman said, "It might have as much meaning for you as it does for me."

Ileen rolled her eyes, "keep yapping old man," she said returning to walking in the other direction, "If you talk enough maybe you'll remember what it was like to listen!"

Ileen walked to the stare well and headed for the exit. She felt a bulge in her throat, like a lump was trying to come up. It began to pressure her neck and quickly gave her a head ach. She swallowed as hard as she could as she stepped through the hallway that led to the battlestars main body. She needed to find a private place, somewhere no one would find her, not for a while. She looked around desperately, but couldn't hold her tears in. She felt the first one well up in her eye and trickle down her cheek.

"NO," She gasped, "I won't cry!"

It didn't work, she felt the tears behind her eyes crawling out, and then she was crying. She managed to sneak into an arms locker, shut the door, and crawl into a corner. She let the tears fall from her eyes. She shook her head, wiping away the watery droplets as fast as she could, angrily battering her face trying to stop them. The door swung open. A jolt of anxiety rushed through her body as she looked up. Celesta entered with a rifle. She set it on the table and began to disassemble it when she looked over.

"Oh my god," Celesta said, "What happened?" Celesta knelt down next to Ileen and brushed a tear off her cheek, "why are you crying?"

"It's nothing," Ileen mumbled.

"If you don't want to tell me that's okay," Celesta said, "but it doesn't help to keep something like this locked up."

"I've kept it locked up long enough, just disassemble your rifle and leave," Ileen said, "I want some time alone."

"Okay then," Celesta said getting up, "But I'm here if you need to talk."

"Talking's done no one any good," Ileen replied, "all it does is waste other peoples time."

Battlestar Acropolis – Hangar Deck – 5 years ago

Ileen walked onto the ships shining deck, dozens of people scurried about with replacement parts and combat gear. Several vipers descended the elevator where they were immediately attended to by nearby personnel. The large bald man in front of her seemed to grow in size as he put his hands behind his back. He glanced across the row of new arrivals.

"Okay so your here to fight Cylons," He spoke in a voice that sounded like yelling at normal volume, "Then you've come to the right damn place!"

There was a cheer from the cadets, and Ileen was among them, they all screamed chants such as, "toast the toasters!" The large bald man didn't even flinch, smile or give any sign he had even heard them.

"You'll be changing that attitude about as fast as you got it," He yelled, "because all those Toasters are going to try and kill you, and that isn't fun."

"We will kick them in their robot nuts first!" Ileen said.

"What is your name, girl!" The bald man yelled, walked towards her until their faces were mere inches apart.

"Ensign Ileen Silo, SIR!" She said snapping to attention.

"Let me guess, you were top of your class?" The bald man said.

"Yes sir," Ileen said with a smirk and a streak of pride roaring through her body.

"Good, then you get to prove it by flying cargo missions, take her to a raptor!" The man said.

"Wait, I thought I'd be flying a viper!" She argued.

"Then you thought wrong, Raptor! NOW!"He said pointing, "Kester, show her to Raptor 244."

A young man, who looked like he had just graduated high school saluted and beckoned Ileen to follow him. She grunted and pushed passed her other pilots and followed the young man down the hangar deck.

"Don't worry," The young man said, "he does that to all high performance pilots. He says it keeps their ego from getting too large."

"Oh sure, I'm getting comfort from a twelve year old," Ileen scoffed, "My day is complete."

"Actually I'm nineteen," The young man said, "My name is Kester, but everyone calls me puppy."

"Great, than I'm getting comforted by a damn dog," She said as they reached the raptor, she lifted her arms in exasperation and let them fall hitting her legs "This is my bird then? Great its flying box."

Battlestar Acropolis – Armor Locker – Present day

"Sounds like he was a nice guy," Celesta said, she was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of her, "Sounds like you were a jerk."

Ileen smiled slightly, "I've always been brash," She said, "It sort of comes with being a female pilot, you have to work twice as hard and be twice as tough to get half the respect."

Celesta put a hand on Ileens shoulder and looked directly into Ileens eye. Celesta's brown eyes seemed to peer into Ileens soul. Both women smiled at each other.

"Was he important to you?" Celesta asked.

"Beyond measure," Ileen replied, wiping yet another tear from her eye, "he was the most amazing man I've ever met."

UNSC Vigilance – Conference Room

The four officers sat across the table from one another. The room was filled with an eerie silence as if someone had just said something inappropriate but no one was willing to tell him. Lionel sat with his hands clasped in front of him on the table and his eyes seemed to fixed on the wall opposite him. His grey mustache twitched as he tried to keep his face steady. He felt a raging fire of anger at the accusation that had just been thrown at him.

"None of my men would deliberately murder another UNSC officer," He said dictating every word he spoke as if he was speaking to a rebellious child, "whoever did this is not one of mine."

"I respect that you trust your men without reservation," Sabbath said looking down at the ODST captain from the head of the table, "but the evidence is fairly conclusive."

"How so?" Lionel said smashing his hand on the table, "I have the ability to pull off an assault like that, does that make me a suspect to?"

"Unfortunately it does, sergeant," Gabriel said after a moment of silence, "I trust you enough to know you never would do such a thing, but procedure is absolute."

"And I know my men well enough to know they wouldn't either," Lionel said, "you're wasting your time."

Again the silence filled the room, with only the distant thrum of the engines to break the cold silence. Gabriel got up out of his chair making a racket in the silence as he did so.

"We still have one major piece of evidence missing," Gabriel said, "We need a motive. Personal grudge on those marines perhaps?"

"All right," Dominic piped up from the far end of the table, "When someone holds a grudge in the UNSC they take it to the boxing ring as always. If these guys were killing for this motive it would have to be a damn good one. That has to be one hell of a grudge."

"Point taken," Sabbath replied, "but we still don't have an answer. These bastards must have some serious hate going down in their system to kill another officer."

"What if it isn't one of ours," Lionel said, "what if it was an officer from their ship." He made a gesture towards the hull of the ship, beyond which floated the Acropolis.

"He has a point," Sabbath said, "A great way for the insurrectionists to destroy a crew would to commit a murder on one."

"Enough!" Gabriel shouted, "We are not blaming our problems on the most convenient scapegoat! Regardless we have a murderer on board this ship and we are going to find them."

The entire rooms temperature plummeted, and once again there was silence, "This is what we know," Gabriel continued, "Whoever did this had the skill to kill two marines before they could put up a fight, and that's about it."

A moment later Alana walked in holding a small chip in her hand. She threw the small piece of equipment on the table where it slid over to the captain. Gabriel picked it up and examined the small memory device. Lionel took a deep breath realizing that it was the camera recording of the hallway from the time frame. Gabriel placed the chip into the disk reader next to his chair. The center of the table opened like a door and a small circular object rose up emitting a holographic image of the hallway. The two marines just stood there guarding the door, without more than a small glitch the two marines were in the positions in which they were found. Moments later Alana came out of the bridge and gasped silently. She began to speak, though no words could be heard through the hologram. Not long after Lionel watched as the captain and Executive officer ran up behind him.

"Well this certainly narrows down our list of suspects," Lionel said.

The entire room looked at him, "Lionel?" Gabriel said looking directly at the older man.

"Whoever did this fooled the ships AI locator beacon for a solid duration of time to remove the possibility of detection, otherwise finding him would be too easy," Lionel said, "Whoever did this accessed the mainframe, without the AI noticing, planted a virus or program that erased footage of him in the holo recordings and scrambled the locator beacons. Maybe a dozen of my men have that type of tech ability. But to be fair several officers on this ship could too, including you captain, the XO, Luke Stratton and myself."

"Good call," Gabriel said, "Sabbath and I were in my quarters discussing ship business, we have an alibi we can both fend for, not to mention we both have electronic means of proving our mutual alibi as well. I accessed my computer terminal there, you can check the records."

"I was in my bunk sleeping," Lionel said with a heavy breath, "guess that makes me a suspect."

"I'm afraid it does," Gabriel said walking over to the ODST captain, "Captain, you are confined to quarters until this matter is resolved."

"Yes sir," Lionel said saluting.

"Alex bring me Luke Stratton," Gabriel said as Lionel got up and headed for the exit.

Two guards waited on the other side of the door, which took him by the arms. Pushing his weight back he flung the two guards off.

"I will not be dragged to my quarters," Lionel said in an annoyed tone, "just escort me there."

Battlestar Acropolis – Mess Hall – 5 years ago

The young golden haired boy Kester sat down across the table from Ileen. She felt her back involuntarily stiffen as he did so. She was afraid to speak to the poor kid after the words she had thrown at him.

"How was your first flight?" Kester asked.

"It was okay," Ileen responded, "we ran some supplies out to the Hyperion and brought back some replacement bolts."

"Well it was safe," Kester said, "so it can't have been all bad."

"I didn't join the colonial military to be safe kid," Ileen said, "I joined it to fight for my home."

"I did to," Kester said, "But I don't have the skills of a pilot, or the aim of a marine, but I can fix anything that's ever been handed to me. So that's how I help, without those supplies you brought back, we can't fix the planes, without the planes those pilots are all but useless."

Ileen laughed, "I appreciate your attempt to make me feel better kid, but I'm just a bitch with a self esteem issue. Don't waste your time."

"I don't think so," Kester said, "From what I've seen you are amazing, bright, gifted and above all else you want to fight for a good reason. Maybe you're being too hard on yourself."

"Listen kid," Ileen said, "you are a sweet and lovable guy, so go give your time to a girl who won't let you down, okay?"

Kester looked down his face grew red as he blushed, "Am I that obvious?"

"Yeah you are," Ileen said, "and trust me Puppy, you don't want me."

"Shouldn't that be for me to decide?" Kester replied, "besides I probably don't have a chance in hell with you, doesn't mean I won't try."

Kester got up to take his tray, "wait," Ileen said, "I could use the company."

Battlestar Acropolis – Armor Locker – Present Day

"You liked him," Celesta said, "Why were you pushing him away."

Ileen leaned her head back against the cold metallic wall, "I was afraid I'd fall in love."

"Why is that something to be afraid of?" Celesta asked.

"Because until then, I thought love was just a fairy tale," Ileen replied, "but it turned out the world wasn't that simple."

"Emotions are many things Ileen," Celesta said, "but they aren't simple. What happened between you too?"

"We fell in love Celesta," Ileen said, "We frakking fell in love."

Battlestar Acropolis – Pilots Bunk room 5 – 5 years ago

The bunk was empty, Ileen sighed with relief and pulled Kester into the room and shut the metal door. He attempted to protest but was cut short as Ileen put her lips to his. The two kissed, drinking in the warmth and power of each other's passion. Ileen felt Kester arms final figure out what they were supposed to do and wrap around her back. Final Kester pulled back far enough that their lips parted.

"What about the door?" Kester said, "Someone might walk in."

Ileen reached over and spun the doors locking mechanism until the satisfying clang of the heavy doors dead lock smashing against the metallic fitting resounded through the empty room. She turned back too Kester and brushed his long golden hair away from his face.

"No one is walking in," Ileen said, "If you don't want to do this just say so and we won't."

Kester seemed to lose all ability to speak as he attempted answer her question. Ileen felt her heart sink. If he didn't feel the same way about her than she had pushed him into this. She felt a pang of guilt and then lips … lips touched hers as Puppy kissed her. She kissed back, the sinking feeling replaced by the sensation of soaring. She pressed her body against his running her hands through his hair as his slid around her waist. The two collapsed onto the nearest bunk as she straddled him, she came up for some much needed air and gave him a quick kiss again before she unbuttoned her shirt and grabbed Kesters hand putting it on her ….

Battlestar Acropolis – Armor Locker – Present day

"Okay!" Celesta said quickly, "you slept together! No more information needed!"

"It was a night to remember," Ileen said smiling, the tears had stopped rolling down her cheeks, " well it was ten minutes to remember at least, I have never felt that open with anyone before."

"You've screwed dozens of guys," Celesta said, "what's the difference?"

"I would have given my body and soul to Puppy," Ileen said, "I loved him more than anything, I would have been his."

"What happened?" Celesta said, "After you to got it on?"

UNSC Vigilance – Exterior Bridge Hallway

The doorway to the bridge was still stained with blood from the two marines, who had been killed there. Gabriel passed back and forth looking around the hall for any evidence that might explain why these two marines had been murdered. As he mentally sifted through the visual information his eyes were picking up he came across a small panel on the wall. It had the words _Bridge Life Support Control _written in small red letters on it. It was located right next to the door, however it was code locked by command authorization meaning it would take time to hack it, and if noise was made when the marines were slaughtered no one would be alone long enough to hack it. In addition only one of the senior officers were on the bridge at the time.

"Anything?" Alexander's voice came from the bridge entry way.

"The marines weren't the target," Gabriel said, "we were."

"What?" Alex said, "We were the target?"

Gabriel pointed at the small console, "see this, you could kill everyone on the bridge if you got your hands on this after the code was broken. But no one who would pull this off would be dumb enough to not check if all the officers they wanted to kill were on the bridge before they shut down the life support."

"Unless they couldn't, only certain officers have access to personnel tracking systems," Alex said, "and the number of people who could do this and don't have access to tracking systems are very small."

"Get me the list of names of people with the technical skills to hack an AI protected life support control panel and don't have the authorization to use the neural implant tracking system," Gabriel said, "If the list is more than ten names, throw in combat skills as well."

Alex saluted, "Yes sir."

Glancing around the hallway Gabriel caught eye of the ships main bridge window. Seeing the large Battlestar outside he wondered what was going on onboard that particular vessel. It was a straight shot from where he stood through the window and … it was a straight shot from where he stood in the doorway to the window, he repeated in his head. If someone wanted to kill the captain of a Marathon class cruiser, he better have a backup in case the first tactic didn't work. While a bullet wasn't enough to break the glass immediately the specialized ammunition for a rocket launcher would definitely do the job.

"ALEX!" Gabriel yelled down the hall after his XO, moments later the tall man rounded the corner and saluted.

"Sir? He said.

"That list your making, add one other stipulation," Gabriel replied, "they have to have access to the specialized ammunition in the nearest arms locker to the bridge. That's clearance level alpha 2 and up, there are 40 people on this ship with access to those rockets."

"Sir?" Alex asked.

"Just do it," Gabriel said, "that list will contain the killer of those marines."

"Unless he wasn't working alone," Alex pointed out.

"I refuse to believe that I have more than one officer who would want me dead," Gabriel replied, "now go get me that list." Alex left with a nod.

UNSC Vigilance – Engine Room

Alana walked into the superheated engine room, for the second time in one day. Waving her hand in front of her face to attempt to get some cool air of any kind, she made her way to the center where the youthful face of the chief engineer yelled random incompressible engine part names to a man sitting at the top of the cross beams, suspended by safety ropes.

"Luke, I have some questions to ask you," Alana bellowed over the sound the engines massive machinery.

Luke looked over and nodded. Moments later he grabbed Alana's arm and dragged her across the room to a corner.

"I don't have much time, while we were in cryo an engine bolt came loose, we are trying to repair it," Luke said, "What do you need?"

"It's about the murder of the two marines," Alana said.

"THE WHAT!" Luke said, "what the hell? Who did it?"

"Well we are trying to figure that out," Alana said over the sound of the engine room's fans and equipment buzzing in the background as if it was trying to get on her nerves, "where were you at 21:30?"

"Right here in the engine room trying not to blow up the ship," Luke said, "Any of my officers can tell you that. You don't think it's me do you?"

"No I really don't," Alana replied, "but we have to cover every base. I'll ask a few of your officers and be on my way."

"Not that I don't appreciate a beautiful woman in my engine room," Luke said, "But this is rather awkward."

"I copy," Alana replied, "it won't take long."

She nodded at Luke and walked over to one of the burly men who seemed to be throwing his weight on a giant "lever" in an attempt to make it go down. But whatever the lever was supposed to do, it didn't want to do it. She sighed and took a breath to ask her question.

Battlestar Acropolis – Pilot's Bunk Room 5 – 5 years ago

Ileen lay next to Kester under the covers of her small bunk. She slid her hand around his chest and hugged him close. She felt his body shaking.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah," Kester said, "That was my first time."

"You did wonderfully," Ileen said kissing his neck, "best minute of my life."

"Really?" Kester asked.

"Yes Puppy," Ileen said, "Really."

"All hands set condition one throughout the ship, I repeat action stations, set condition one throughout the ship," Came Commander Davenforth's voice over the intercom.

Ileen leaped out of the bunk and grabbed her uniform, "Sounds like the Cylons want to interrupt, and I'll meet up with you after we toast the bastards."

"Be careful out there," Kester said, "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I will be," She said leaning over and kissing him as she pulled on her flight suit, "The CAG put me in a viper a month ago. I know what I'm doing. You just be careful Puppy."

Kester had pulled on his orange jumpsuit and was heading for the door when the ship shook and the sound of a missile impact echoed throughout the metal hull of the ship. Ileen had to get out there; she knew the alert vipers were already launched. Kester pulled the heavy metal door open and darted through and Ileen followed running towards the Hangar deck. The two jumped on the ships tram way and the large tram car shot towards the hangar pod, curving as it passed through the pods curved attachments.

She ran of the tram as soon as it came to a halt, stopping only to grab a helmet a deck hand was holding out to her. She bolted up the steps of her viper and dove right into the cockpit, latching the helmet on. The lights flickered again as a missile impacted the ship.

"Viper 104 ready to go," She said, and with that the cockpit windshield was slammed shut around her and the seals clamped shut.

The Viper was towed towards the launch tube and moments later she was hurtling towards outer space. In moments she had cleared the battlestar and was headed for the flashing lights of vipers and raiders meeting in combat. In the distance the two round disks and solid centerpiece of a Cylon base star could be seen in the distance. Dozens of missiles flew past her and exploded on the hull of the Acropolis. She swerved her viper as a Raider flew by her. Pulling a flip she turned nose to tail and shot towards the raider, her guns blazing as soon as she got close enough. Moments later her bullets pelted the enemy craft and it exploded.

Battlestar Acropolis – Armor Locker – Present Day

Ileen looked up from her hands where she had been indicating the maneuvers she was using to the intently listening Celesta. Indeed Celesta had been listening carefully as she nodded, her eyes asking her to go on.

"And?" Celesta pried.

"Well it was a tough fight," Ileen said, "But the Acropolis ended up turning the Basestar into scrap metal. But not all our pilots were so lucky. It cost us 25 good pilots, and entire squadron of support ships"

"I guess I wasn't aboard yet?"Celesta said.

"No, you came aboard almost a year later," Ileen said, "as replacement personnel for the casualties we took in that fight. You were still a young petty officer at the time."

"Thanks to my father I rose in ranks far faster than I should have," Celesta said, "but that's a story for another time. What about you and Kester? What happened?"

"Me and Puppy," Ileen said flashes of the youthful deck hand flashing in front of her eyes, "against regs, stupid, and one of the best things that ever happened to me. And one of the worst."

Battlestar Acropolis – Hangar Deck – 5 years ago

The Viper descended down the elevator. She could hardly see through the cracked cockpit window, regardless she had managed to safely land the viper. She clutched her shoulder were the Cylon bullet had grazed her after it had passed through the window. Moments later the sound of the windshields airlocks being lifted reached her ears, and the glass top was slid off.

"You okay?" Kester said, "you're bleeding."

"It's just a scratch, the doc can patch it up in medical," Ileen said, "good thing you're safe."

"Good thing I'm safe? I was more worried about you," He said.

Ileen leaned over and kissed him while no one was looking, "I'll be fine,"

She lifted herself out of the cockpit and limped down the viper portable stairs. She looked at her back and saw a gash across the smooth metallic surface.

"Looks like I caught one there," She said.

"I'll fix her up," Kester said, "Not a thing I've ever tried to fix has ever come out unfixed."

"Thanks Puppy," She said as she began to walk away.

She looked behind her as her Golden haired boyfriend looked at the gash on her viper. He began to fiddle with it. All of a sudden the plating fell off and small bullet fell out. It was the Cylon bullet that pierced her viper, but it was larger than most of them, likely a missile of some sort. It hit the ground and bounced once, twice then it exploded.

The explosion ignited the Vipers Tillium based fuel tank and in a flash of light a fireball erupted and the concussive shockwave hit Ileens chest and threw her twenty feet backwards as the fire ball's heat glazed over her. She landed on the ground sliding several more feet. Laying there for a moment her vision was blurry and her ears rang with the explosion. Leeman's face appeared above hers. He seemed to be moving too slowly, then a strike on her cheek brought her back to reality.

She looked over where the front of her viper lay smoking. Before her brain could process everything she scrambled to her feet and darted towards the body in the orange jumpsuit that was laying against the support frame near her vipers former location. She fell to her knees as she approached it sliding the rest of the way. Her hand jostled the corpse and it fell into her arms, it was Kester.

"Puppy," she said shaking the black and red body, "Puppy please! PUPPY!"

She felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't stop them; they rolled down her cheek and onto the smoking hair of Kester.

"My Puppy," She sobbed hugging the limp corpse, "no."

Battlestar Acropolis – Armor Locker – Present Day

"To this day, I don't know if I'll ever be capable of love again," Ileen said looking up at Celesta through her tears that were streaming from her eyes, "I just don't know if I can."

Celesta put her hands on Ileens back and pulled her into an embrace, "I'm so sorry. I had no idea," She said.

"He was so sweet, so kind," Ileen said, "How could the fates have just taken him like that."

Celesta just rocked back and forth as Ileen cried. Her warm tears dripping onto Celesta's uniform.

"I'm sorry, I've kept you all night," Ileen sniffed.

"No, no," Celesta comforted, "it's okay, I think you needed to talk about it. Listen I don't know what to say other than to promise you I will always be here if you need to talk."

Ileen sniffed in trying to clear her clogged nose, "Thank you Celesta you're a good friend."

"But one day you're going to have to move on, and move forward," Celesta said, "he wouldn't want you to lose a chance at happiness because of one event. Honor him by being as kind a person as he was."

"I don't know if I can," Ileen said pulling away from Celesta's chest, "but I'll try, because you're right."

The two looked at each other and smiled. Celesta pushed herself to her feet and held out her hand to help Ileen up. Grabbing her hand Ileen managed to stand.

UNSC Vigilance – Conference room

Alexander walked in with a holo pad. Gabriel, Alana, Dominic, Marcus and Luke sat around the conference table. Alexander sat down slowly opposite the captain placed the tablet on the table in front of him. There was stillness in the room as everyone anticipated the list of names. Gabriel sighed running a hand through his hair as he waited for that moment when he learned the killers name.

"I compiled the information, Captain," He said, "I narrowed it down to two names: Richard Taylor and Jacob Cipher."

"Both of whom are ODST officers?"Gabriel replied.

"Yes sir," Alexander said, "Unfortunately for Richard, he did not have an alibi that anyone could back up, Jacob on the other hand was sparring with friends in one of our gyms at the time, I'm afraid Richard is our murder."

"How can we be absolutely sure it was him?" Alana asked, "We still don't have motive. Why would he want to kill the captain, or any of us for that matter?"

"He would have to confess," Marcus said, "But I don't know how we could get him to do it."

"It's time we confront him," Gabriel said, he reached over to the nearby terminal, "Captain to security, bring me Richard Taylor from the ODST division."

"Yes sir," Came the reply.

"How will we ascertain if he's guilty?" Alex asked.

"We ask him," Gabriel said, "_very_ politely."

A few minutes later a young man was brought in. He held a cross between his hands; "Sorry to interrupt sir but security brought me here. I was praying in the lounge?" He said with confusion written on his face.

"Taylor, can you account for your whereabouts at 21:30 last night?" Gabriel asked.

"In my bunk, reading," Taylor said.

"Strange because your bunk mate claimed to have not seen you until almost an hour later," Alex said.

"What's going on, captain?" Taylor asked.

"You are the prime suspect in the murder of two marines by the names of Charlie Fenris, and Michael Howard," Gabriel said, "Those where their names, did you that?" "Now tell me, why did you kill them?"

Taylor shifted, "Kill them, I don't know what you mean?"

"I mean to ask why did you decide to prevent them from living any longer?" Gabriel snapped, staring directly at the ODST, Taylor stared back.

Taylor then reached behind him and grabbed a pistol that was wedged in his pants. He pointed at Gabriel. Not even a second later Alex grabbed his hand as the shot went off. The bullet bounced of the ceiling, went straight through the table and hit the ground. Alex had twisted the officer's hand behind his back and slammed him onto the conference table.

"Well I guess that's as good a confession as any," Gabriel said, "and remind the guards to check the people they are bringing to me. I'd rather not get shot at again."

The two guards who had escorted him to the door were now in the room with their weapons drawn pointing them at the young officer who was helplessly pressed against the table.

"Why?" Alex said shaking him, "you're the first recorded murderer on a UNSC vessel, why did you do it!"

"Because," Taylor spat, "God created Earth and Earth alone, he didn't create twelve colonies, and he sure as Hell didn't make humans elsewhere! You were about to undermine everything our lord has done!"

Gabriel stood up placing his hands firmly on the conference table's surface before taking a deep breath and releasing it. He then leaned over towards the marine, "Let me get this straight, you killed two men in an attempt to kill me because of your pathetic religion!" Gabriel voice shook with rage, "how did you find out about that conversation?"

"Your bridge guards talk," Taylor said, "they overheard you speaking with your officers and spoke about it in the mess hall. I didn't want them dead, I wanted our blasphemous captain dead."

Alex slammed him against the table, "Over my dead body," Alex hissed.

"That was the idea," Taylor said, "But you two were off doing who knows what!"

"You have not only insulted the UNSC and everything it stands for, you have insulted me and your fellow officers by committing murder on my ship!" Gabriel said slamming his fist into the table, a slight pain shot through his fist, but he didn't care, "I should chuck you out the god damn airlock! Unfortunately regulations prevent me from doing so, instead you're about to spend a very long time in the Brig to think about what you've done Taylor, take him away."

The guards grabbed the ODST and dragged him out of the room.

"For all of the possible reasons to taint the UNSC Navy's reputation, religion just had to be the one, didn't it?" Alex hissed unloading Taylors gun and throwing it on the table, "two men dead for God."

"Religion has killed only god knows how many people in the past," Gabriel said picking up Taylors cross, "guess it figures it's not done yet."

* * *

(1) Don't know whether this is true but we're assuming that the handle is a form of non-stick and non-slip rubber which to our knowledge doesn't acquire fingerprints. This is fanfiction so I think you all can cut us some slack on this minor detail.

A/n Well there you have it, hope you enjoyed our little murder mystery, next chapter the fun really begins. You all should no doubt know the drill please review as it keeps us going... and the puppy off crack. Please don't make us put it on crack, it scares us. Till next time


	4. Prophecy

Disclaimer: We do not own Halo or Battlestar Galactica, nor do we own any of their affiliates. You know the drill.

Thank you to all who have taken the time to review our story. Last chapter was simply intended to show that the Colonies aren't the only ones with religion and that they aren't the only one with fanatics. We apologize if we may have insulted any of you with our previous chapter as it was not intended to be a extremist form of anti-religion sentiment. Yes the ships AI (who is introduced in this chapter) did play a major role in figuring out the language barrier and bypassing it. Our plans so far will be keeping the Cylons out of it for a while yet and the same goes for a Covenant POV. Anywho we've kept you long enough here is chapter 4.

**Prophecy**

And the Prophecy Says…

_And the 12 brothers shall deny the 13__th__ thrice before the end. The first shall be in passing; the second shall be in absolution; and the third shall be a falsehood. After this they shall deny no longer, and the embers of war will be lit. This is how the world begins this is how the world ends. For with these denials they shall break the fate once set in stone. _

- _Scrolls of Tanginea 21:12_

Battlestar Acropolis – CIC

The CIC was glowing with the lights and consoles, and filled with its typical sounds. Korran stood at the command table with the phone pressed against his ear. The cord dangled by his elbow as he stood there listening.

"We lost contact with the mining colony of Typhon about an hour ago," Admiral Hogan's voice echoed through the phone, "I'm sending in three battlestars to investigate."

"Do we know anything?" Korran replied his heart skipped a beat, he knew they could not afford the Cylons returning.

"It's probably a hardware malfunction," Hogan replied, "We detected a plasma storm heading in that direction. It probably killed the communications but I wanted to be certain this isn't the prelude to a Cylon invasion."

"We are less than a jump away from Typhon, we could investigate now," Korran said.

"Yes you are," Hogan replied, "But right now you have a diplomatic mission to worry yourself with. Besides if it is the Cylons, I'd prefer not to lose a battlestar."

"I understand, sir," Korran replied, "is that all?"

"Just wanted to keep you up to date," Hogan said, "Battlestar Hephaestus out."

The phone went dead. Korran placed the phone in its slot and pushed till it locked into place. Sasha looked up at him with raised eyebrows as she pushed a sheet of paper over to the side of the table. A young ensign grabbed the sheet of paper and scanned it. Obviously finding what he was looking for he turned around and bolted for the CIC's exit.

"Anything interesting?" Sasha asked.

"We lost contact with Typhon," Korran replied.

Celesta stumbled through the door; large circles had formed around her eyes. She saluted, and walked to her post. Korran wondered why some people stayed up all night knowing that had a great deal to do the next day. Looking up at the Dradis screen, Korran saw that the Vigilance was now labeled 'UNSC Vessel'. He looked behind him at Hendar who winked. Smiling Korran falsely saluted. The two exchanged silent gestures of amusement, before returning to their duties.

"Sir, Vigilance actual is on the line," Celesta's voice echoed from above Korran.

Grabbing the phone he had recently put away, Korran tugged until it came loose and raised the phone to his ear, "Acropolis actual, go ahead."

"Commander," Gabriel's voice came from the phone, "I was hoping I might request your assistance. One of my Admirals has returned to our closest colony, but he brought a few enemy vessels. It wouldn't hurt to have an extra set of guns."

"I'm sorry Captain," Korran replied, "as I mentioned we are more than willing to give you aid, just not go to war."

"I understand," Gabriel said, "I'll be departing shortly to join my fleet, I felt we should find a time and a place for a diplomatic conference, where people who are good at talking politics can meet."

"Agreed," Korran replied, "I just wanted to say I greatly enjoyed dinner and hope we get the chance to dine aboard your ship. You owe me a meal."

"It's a deal," Gabriel replied, "you are the strangest thing that I've ever encountered. And I've encountered a vast number of really strange things."

"Indeed," Korran replied, "safe Journeys. I'm sending you a print out of what we call Armistice station, we can meet in safety there. With politicians in tow."

"Very well," Gabriel said, "Vigilance out."

Hanging up the phone, and once again pressuring the stubborn object until it snapped into place, Korran looked up at his first officer. Behind her the tactical board displayed a dry erase triangle with name Vigilance written on it. He walked around the command table and grabbed a rag. Walking up to the board he moved to erase the triangle as the ship shook.

"Unknown contact!" Came Hendar's voice from the ops consol.

"That didn't feel like a missile impact!" Korran said, "what was it?"

"I have no clue," Hendar replied.

"Action Stations, set condition 1 throughout the ship! Launch Alert Vipers and get the rest of my Pilots out there!" Korran shouted, "I want eyes on whatever that ship is!"

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

The CCS battlecruiser fired another barrage of plasma cannons. The Vigilance shook violently as sparks exploded from one of the forward consoles. Grabbing the edge of his chair arms Gabriel stared up at the large tactical board in front of him. Holographic representations of the huge ship and the Vigilance flickered as the ship was hit again.

"Captain our FTL is offline," Alana said

"Sir they are opening a slip space portal!" Marcus yelled from the front of the ship.

Moments later the representation of the CCS battle cruiser disappeared from the grid leaving only the Acropolis and Vigilance on the holographic display. Gabriel let out a sigh as his hands loosened their grip on the arm rests.

"What the hell is the covenant playing at!" Gabriel asked allowed, "That ship had the firepower to finish us. Why didn't they?"

"I'm just glad they didn't" Alex replied.

"They'll be back," Gabriel replied, "tell Luke to get our FTL drive back online."

"Sir," Alana called out, "We have an incoming signal from the Acropolis."

"Let's hear it," Gabriel replied.

"Care to explain what that was?" Korran's voice came over the speaker.

"CCS class battle cruiser, something I would rather not mess with," Gabriel replied.

"Agreed, it burned some of my paint off," Korran said, "Do you need anything, you took the beating."

"Have a spare Shaw-Fujikawa enjine?"

"A what?" Korran asked

"I didn't think so, though I suggest that we get the hell out of here," Gabriel replied, "They'll be back."

UNSC Vigilance – Engine Room

Luke grunted angrily as he through the large wrench he was holding to the ground. Steam erupted from a nearby pipe and covered the engine room in a light mist. The fans that once roared with vigor now lay silent. The heavy reactors that powered the mighty Marathon class cruiser still grumbled away, however, ever heating the engine room. A young ensign ran up to Luke holding out a large bucket of ice. Taking it the youthful chief engineer poured it over himself. He closed his eyes as the heat dissipated and cold, soothing water and ice dripped down his face and back.

Nodding to the ensign in appreciation Luke once again picked up the wrench, and grabbed the rope that was attached to his waste. He struck the lever on his side and the mechanical wheels turned as he was once again raised up to the pipe that was currently causing visibility issues in the engine room. Using the rope attached to him and the ceiling, Luke managed to balance on the pipe, and he walked over to the rupture point on the pipe. He fitted the wrench around the small lever that was positioned in front of the pipes frame. Six bolts surrounded the pipes lip keeping the half Luke stood on and the half that was now breached together. Putting what little weight his scrawny body had into the wrench finally caused the sticking lever to give way. With an intense screeching sound he yanked it to the "off" position.

The liquid nitrogen that had once flowed through the tube was no longer flowing. This meant the steam that was spewing from the pipe also stopped, it also meant that the fusion cores had that much less cooling fluid to keep them from going into melt down.

"WOW!" Came Alex's voice from below him, "looks like you have a weather issue!"

"The fog rolled in after whatever shot at us got a luck hit to one of our engines. The explosion caused a pressure feedback in the cooling system, blowing out these liquid nitrogen lines all over the place," Luke called down to the XO, "we managed to repair two of them but five need to be replaced. The fusion cores will go into meltdown in a few days without the proper cooling systems."

"Can you repair it by then?" Alex yelled back.

"The damage actually isn't extensive," Luke replied, "the fans should be back up soon and these pipes should be replaced within the hour. It takes way more than that to take out a Marathon class cruiser. But until we fix the cooling it did disable our FTL drives."

"How long before FTL is operational?" Alex said.

Luke hit his belt again and leaped off the pipe. The wheels spun and grabbed as it slowed his decent. He landed in front of the XO with a thud, and removed the line from his belt.

"I don't know," Luke said, "the FTL is victim to the cooling system, but if a pressure wave could blow these pipes, it could have knocked the drive out of alignment. Trust me, you don't want to jump to slip space with an improperly mounted slip space drive."

"I imagine that would be bad," Alex replied.

"Yeah, it would transport a fair amount of our ship to oblivion," Luke said, "and that could cause structural integrity issues."

"I think you may get the award for understatement of the month," Alex said, "but joking aside, are we battle ready? The captain thinks the aliens might decide to pay us another visit."

"I'll make sure the Vigilance is ready to greet them," Luke said, "If they are going to take this beauty down, they'll have to go through me first."

Alex looked awkwardly at the thin, young, unintimidating engineer, "I feel better already," Alex replied.

Battlestar Acropolis – Pilots Ready Room

The room was empty as Ileen stood at the podium staring out across the rows of seats. It felt like a classroom from War College with its folding desks and cup holders. Smiling Ileen leaned on the podium looking at her report of the ship she had seen. The black and white snapshots depicted a long thin body with an ovular central area. Glowing white orbs where coming from the ships side and heading towards the Vigilance and a long white streak crossed the page and disappeared off the edge. She remembered that it hit the Acropolis and left a very long line of burned Tritanium in its wake.

"How's my CAG?" Korrans voice echoed from the doorway.

Ileen looked up to see the well-defined facial features of the Acropolis's commander staring at her from the doorway. He stepped down from the frame and walked down the stairs that made up the isle that divided the Pilots ready room in half.

"I'm fine sir," Ileen said, "I was just looking at these pictures, they are so strange."

"How so?" Korran said walking up next to her and looking at the ship.

"Look at this ship," Ileen said, "It's shaped very oddly and whatever it's shooting doesn't look like projectiles."

"They're plasma bolts guided using a contained magnetic field," Korran said, "I just got off the horn with Gabriel. They know little more than that about the weapons."

"How do we fight an enemy that can shoot sci-fi guns at us?" Ileen said.

"The same way we beat the Cylons," Korran replied putting a hand on her shoulder.

"We didn't beat the Cylons," Ileen said, "They retreated, if they had kept fighting we probably would have lost."

"Maybe," Korran said, "but they did retreat, now our fleet is more powerful than it ever has been in the history of the 12 colonies. If it comes to war with the aliens Ileen, we will give them a fight they won't soon forget."

"Remember Puppy?" Ileen asked looking up at Korran.

"Yes I do," Korran said, "sweet kid, talented engineer. Leeman thought he'd make deck chief one day."

"I miss him," Ileen said.

"I know," Korran said, "you were never the same after he passed on. Not until I saw that look in your eye today when I walked in."

"What do you mean?" Ileen asked.

"There's a bit of light in your heart again," Korran said, "a bit of that fight that made you so special."

Ileen smiled, "I think I've found someone," She said, "Someone I can love again."

"Well I know better than to ask who, you'll just stonewall me," Korran said, "but maybe we can have dinner together one day. I'd be happy to have you back."

Korran walked towards the door. Ileen smiled looking after the kind man that she had looked up to since the day they met.

"Korran," Ileen said, "Thank you. You've been like a brother to me."

Korran stopped and turned his head looking at the young CAG, "And I will always be there for you."

Korran exited the room. Moments later the pilots began entering the room and taking their seats around the room.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

Gabriel sat down in the command chair. His eyes were heavy and he felt his heart pumping harder than usual. His body was weak from the lack of sleep. He looked through the window at the stars. The twinkled and sparkled and slowly Gabriel began to feel a calm relaxation in his muscles, as the sounds of the bridge faded out. Then the sound of an alarm wrenched him out of his bliss.

"What!" He said foolishly jerking upwards in his chair.

"Captain," Came Alana's voice, "We are detecting a slip space signature dead ahead. It's the Covenant ship!"

A large ring appeared in the distance, glowing white with bolts of lightning shooting out from it. The center was completely dark with only the occasional flash of lightning to break its icy black surface. From this large ring sprung the large CCS battleship with its long sleek central hull and ovular centerpiece. Its many plasma turrets glowed red with anger.

"Sound General Quarters!" Gabriel yelled across the bridge, "Bring the ship up to Combat Alpha 2!"

The ships alarms immediately began ringing in his ears. The rotating orange and red lights cast the bridge into an array of standard lighting and alarm lighting. Officers ran across the ships bridge getting to the battle stations. Seconds later Siegfried appeared on the AI console facing the window, as if he needed to physically see something being holographic. The motorized roar of the MAC guns rumbled throughout the ship as the massive weapons turned with the ship towards the battle cruiser that was now in front of them.

"Launch the longswords!" Gabriel shouted, "get the auto canons ready for ship to ship combat. Missile pods, give me a sitrep!"

"Missiles are ready, auto canons are set for combat," Came Marcus's voice from the side of the bridge, "Magnetic Accelerator Cannons have rounds and we are prepared to fire."

Dots appeared from the massive ship that was now approaching them, tiny specks of metal and glowing engines seemed to pour out of the ships belly. They swarmed like a group of killer bees towards the Vigilance. A huge purple light shot from the ventral portion of the Covenant vessel. The Vigilance tipped sideways as it turned on a dime. The ship jolted violently as the energy beam scraped the side of the ship. Looking at the now activated tactical display Gabriel watched as their neighboring ship powered its engines in the opposite direction.

"Where are they going," Marcus yelled, "We need their help."

"It's not their fight," Gabriel said, "They aren't going to help us."

Battlestar Acropolis – CIC

Korran jumped back as Ileen smashed her hand on the command table. The fire in her eyes seemed to ignite and explode outwards as she clenched her teeth together.

"THEY NEED OUR HELP!" She bellowed.

"I can't get involved," Korran said staring back at her, "are you really suggesting we drag the colonies into another bloody war!"

"Listen," Ileen said, "I joined the colonial fleet to save frakking lives, I can't just sit by while we watch an entire crew just die! They are obviously outgunned."

"Ileen, do not make me restrain you for insubordination," Korran hissed back glaring at her, "I can't make every decision on this ship based on what I think is right. My job is to destroy the enemy, not make new ones."

Ileen turned and stormed out of the CIC with a shriek of rage.

"You let her get away with too much," Sasha said.

"We will have a talk later," Korran said looking up at the dradis consol as the two dots jumped positions each time the blue wave swept over them.

Korran looked down at the command table and then at his chest where his golden buttoned uniform neatly formed a straight line up and across his body. He fingered his 'commander' pins on his neck. The pointed eagle wings pricking him slightly as he ran his finger over the top. He felt the three diamonds that made up protruded from the center of the eagle. He saw the faces of everyone he had ever cared about who had died on Picon during the Cylon attack. His sister face flashed in front of him as well. They all died because the other colonies didn't send aid when they were in need. And all 12 colonies suffered as a result.

"Helm, bring us about," He shouted, "Bring the ship up to Condition one, sound action stations."

The Battlestars alarm klaxon blared in the background as the red light around the CIC began to flash

"Tell the gun captains to prepare to engage the enemy vessel! Load missile tubes 2 and 4 with nuclear ordinance," Korran bellowed above the now roaring CIC, "Get all other missile tubes loaded with STS missiles. Stand by for targeting information!"

"Sir," Sasha said, "I must protest."

"Too many of our colonies suffered in the Cylon war because the other colonies refused to help," Korran said, "I will not make the same mistake twice. If you have a problem I can get another XO."

"No sir," Sasha said snapping to attention, "I actually agree with you."

"Good," Korran said, "then let's go in. We are taking that thing out. And tell Ileen we need her in a viper. ASAP"

"Sir, missiles are ready! Nuclear ordinance ready!" Jason's voice echoed from behind Korran.

"Range?" Korran yelled.

"Extreme range for missiles," Sasha said.

Korran pulled his key from around his neck and shoved it into the side of the Command table and turned. He punched in his command code and watched as Sasha did the same on her side.

"Tactical," Korran said, "Fire Nuclear Warheads!"

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

The MAC gun's massive thuds sounded throughout the ship as the guns fired their twin bolts towards the oncoming battlecruiser. The Covenant's shields flared brightly as the shells made contact with them. The ship rocked as the glowing red plasma cannons plasma bolts smashed into the Vigilance's hull. Sparks exploded from a few lights that lined the outermost areas of the bridge. Suddenly a flash of bright white light lit up the CCS battleship as the entire ship was engulfed in the purple glow of its shields followed only moments later by a second flash that caused the massive ships shields to flare a second time flickering wildly at the punishment they were taking.

"Two nuclear detonations in the 98 kiloton range!" Called Marcus, "That had to hurt!"

"This is the Battlestar Acropolis Actual to Vigilance," Came commander Veritas's voice from the speakers, "I was on my way down the road when I forgot something."

"Well I'll be happy to retrun whatever it was," Gabriel said, "After this enemy vessel is dead!"

"Happy to oblige," Verita's replied as the phone hung up.

Moments later what appeared to be dozens of miniature MAC rounds pummeled the Covenant vessel with explosive shells causing the enemies shields to flare. The massive ship that had been harmlessly sitting next to them had turned its side towards the CCS battlecruiser and was blasting away at an amazing rate. Out of nowhere the ships side glowed orange and tinny bullets flew from the flight pods. The swarm of Banshees and Seraphs that was once happily perusing towards the Vigilance began to flash bright blue as the battlestars PDG barrage cut them to pieces.

"Holy SHIT!" Marcus said.

"Lets give them some of our own fire power," Gabriel said, "Archer Missiles! FIRE!"

A wall of missiles shot from behind the bridge as they flew towards the covenant battle cruiser smashing into its badly weakened shields with explosive flashes. The covenant shields were flaring with the firepower being dished out at them. The Plasma cannons flashed as green and red bolts of energy shot out from both side of the bow heading for both ships. The Vigilance shook as they impacted her hull. They collided with the Battlestars armor seemingly harmlessly, but the large black burn marks that were beginning to appear all over the battlestars hull suggested otherwise.

Viper 248

Ileen's viper ejected from the launch tubes. The PDG gun flashed beside her as she pulled her bird above the ocean of flying bullets. The massive purple hulk of the alien vessel loomed before her as huge green bolts flew passed her and detonated on the hull of the Acropolis. She slammed on the throttle pedal and he viper shot forward, with all 500 vipers now in the air.

"Blackjack!" She called, "Take your Squadron group to the left, Loophole take yours to the right, Gunny take yours below and Toaster take yours above, everyone else follow me, we are headed directly up the shaft."

She watched as the squadrons of vipers tore away from the group and followed her orders arching towards the oncoming enemy vessels. Purple beams of light shot from the enemy large rounded fighters. Their tails streaked behind them as her group met the enemy dead on. They had pulled away from the suppression barrage of the battlestar by this time. She saw a strange looking fighter with wings that were made of two polls and a body that resembled a hot dog to her.

She pushed the red button in the center of her steering column. The flashes of her vipers machine guns lit up the cockpit like fireworks as her bullets rattled the enemy fighter with pounding bullets. It tried to pull away but her viper had its maneuverability far out matched and in moments it exploded in a giant blue burst of energy and debris. Flipping her bird around she bolted after one of the larger vessels that apparently had some kind of transparent armor protecting them.

Her bullets bounced harmlessly off the strange fighters shields, which flared bright white as her bullets made contact. But like all armor it had to fail eventually, right? She switched her viper's weapons console to missile systems and launched one at the target. It shot forward and impacted the shields, but the explosion knocked the strange fighter off course slightly, though no apparent damage was done. Moments later a barrage of missiles impacted her target and it exploded in a flash of blue light, as one of the huge UNSC strike craft shot in front of her, its guns blazing as it went after another target.

Another of the smaller fighters passed her by with a few shots of blue colored bullets. One struck the side of her viper and exploding blackening the nose of her bird. She dove after the fighter.

"You did not shoot that blue shit at me!" She screamed.

Switching back to her machine guns she pummeled the vessel with bullets from behind quickly dispatching the poorly built strike craft. Moments later the rest of her squadrons joined the fight coming in from behind ripping the enemy strike craft to pieces. She went after another small strike craft quickly dispatching of it. As she did so, a strange lizard like creature smashed against her windshield. It had pincer like mandibles for a mouth and sharp alligator like teeth. The creature slid up and over her speeding viper. Still trying to figure out what had just smashed into her windshield she saw the UNSC ship in front of her, and barely pulled up in time.

"I don't know why the 13thtribe is losing," Loophole called over the COM, "These guys are fun to kill!"

"I think the size of the ships might have something to do with it," Ileen called out as she pulled a flip and lost sight of the strange purple ship.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

The whole ship shook violently as a barrage of plasma bolts rattled the side of the massive ship. Grabbing the arms of his chair, Gabriel managed to stay put as his ship bucked and heaved trying to throw him out. Sparks erupted from the lights above him littering the floor with glowing particles of dust. The quickly lost their heat and turned into blackened rubble. The satisfying KATHUNK - KATHUNK of the MAC's shots resounded through the ship. The twin bolts smashed into the shields of the CCS finally penetrating it's protective bubble and smashing into the hull plating beneath. Hull damage beginning to form as the second shell impacted a split second later joining the Acropolises guns in causing the massive ship's hull to flare up with the lights of impact points.

A barrage of missiles shot forward from behind the bridge a second time. The flashing purple PDGs of the CCS battle cruiser managed to shoot down a great many missiles, but many made it through and exploded on the ship's hull. Again the Vigilance rocked violently, finally throwing Gabriel from his chair. Sparks exploded from Marcus' panel to Gabriel's right. The holographic display flickered momentarily.

The Tactical display depicted the Acropolis, Vigilance and CCS battle cruiser in approximate scale. Seeing the size of the vessel they were up against sent chills down Gabriel's back. He remembered what one of these ships sisters did to the battle fleet Preston Cole had lead to take back Harvest. Granted that ship was a great deal larger than the CCS.

The ship violently threw Gabriel onto his side, wrenching his hand from the armrest he was attempting to hold on to. Falling face first into the Bridges deck plate was not Gabriel's idea of a good day. Pushing himself to his feet Gabriel crawled into the command chair. The ships bridge lights were now flickering on and off uncontrollably.

"We have a hull breach on deck 71!"Alana called from the ops station to Gabriel's left, "We have fires on multiple levels, and are venting atmosphere!"

"Prepare to vent the atmosphere from around those areas," Alex yelled grabbing the side of the wall separating the forward bridge from the bulk of it, "put those fires out."

"Covenant boarding vessels are present on the field!" Marcus called.

"Elevate to Combat Alert Alpha 1, Point Defense Systems, chop them up!" Gabriel responded.

The aforementioned auto cannons jumped into action firing dozens of rapid-fire bolts, which sliced the enemy drop ships into small pieces of crumpled burning metal. The ship shook violently yet again as the CCS tried to destroy the Vigilance. The repeating fire of the MAC guns again resounded through the ship. The two shots impacting the hull of the enemy vessel finally starting to cause some extensive damage. The Acropolis's guns also rattled the hull with explosive shells.

"Enemy hull failing!" Marcus said.

Battlestar Acropolis – CIC

The Acropolis shook forcing Korran onto the command table. The lights on the ship flickered and sparks burst from the Dradis consol, which faded out of operation and back in again in response. Another impact sent Korran falling backwards where he collided with the wall behind him. A chair from one of the sectioned off areas of the CIC hit the containing class. The sound of glass cracking reached Korran's ears.

Pulling himself to his feet he looked over at the noises origin. There the glass was cracked in standard spider web pattern. The ship shook again and the glass shattered into pieces as the chair was thrown through it. Sparks exploded from the lamps hanging high above the CIC. One of them was detached from the ceiling and came crashing down onto the deck exploding as it made contact with the ground.

Grabbing the command table Korran pulled himself to his regular position and looked up at the Dradis console. The enemy vessel still pinged as 'unknown contact' and had taken up a relatively stationary position ahead of the Acropolis and Vigilance. The ship shook again violently as another alien weapon slammed into the Battlestars hull.

"You have a fire on the starboard section of the head!" Came Ileens voice from the COM, "I repeat there is a fire on the starboard section of your head."

Looking over at the ships structural display, Korran say three lights flashing red on the Acropolis's alligator head "Get that fire out!" He yelled at the officer in charge of the console.

The resounding thuds of the ships guns resounded through the ship muffled by the thousands of metric tons of tritanium between the guns themselves and the CIC. Looking up at the Dradis Console he saw the hundreds of small dots representing the vipers and UNSC strike craft, as well as the red 'unknowns' that pinged around them. These dots changed each time the wavy blue line passed over them. The ship rocked again, forcing Korran face first onto the command table, the low pitched rumble of the explosion on the hull bounced across the room as the sound of more glass being shattered reach Korran's ears.

"Tell the forward guns to focus on the enemy ship's engine block!" Korran yelled across the CIC, "launch the STS missile barrage on my command!"

"Yes sir," Came Jason's voice barely audible above the chaos of the CIC's alarms, yelling officers, and sparking consoles.

The ship rocked again knocking another light from the ceiling off its supports. It came crashing down and exploded on the deck plates it impacted. Several officers had to dive out of the falling objects way and covered their heads as glass and metal shards showered over them.

"STS Missile barrage fire!" Korran hissed.

Viper 248

Ileen sent her viper into a dive towards swooping up as one of the larger enemy strike craft collided with another. Laughing she pulled a flip in time to see the Acropolis launch all 40 of its loaded ship-to-ship missiles. The multitude of rockets flew by her viper at an astounding rate leaving smoke trails leading back to the mighty battle star. Dodging several more vessels she followed a smaller strike craft until she shot it down and looked up in time to see the missiles hit the hull of the huge vessel. Explosions riddled the large purple ships surface. Moments later another barrage of many more missiles impacted the ship, the smoke trails lead back to the Vigilance.

Purple flames now erupted from the alien vessel in several locations, localizing around the impact sites of the Vigilance's primary weapons, along with some kind of greenish smoke emitting from the hull. The battlestar's shells kept hammering the ships side and every ten bolts or so another fire would spring up from the purple hull. Suddenly two bolts smashed the ship from the Vigilance completely shattering the hull sections they impacted. The vessels engine block went up in flames, moments later it exploded sending purple chunks of hull in all directions. The explosion carried through the ship causing the already flaming holes to erupt even more profusely. The ships back began to shatter and break.

In an immense blue flash the battle cruiser was thrown into tiny little pieces. The hooting and hollering from the COM system made Ileen smile slightly. From the ships wreckage emerged dozens of smaller vessels, each shaped like a giant tuning fork. Ileen immediately dove after these vessels. Switching to Missiles she pummeled one with two missiles, which caused its hull plating to buckle, another two from her wingman caused it to explode, the rest of them began firing bright purple pulses of energy at her. She dodged all of them, but her wingman wasn't so lucky. One bolt caught his wing hard sending him into a spiral. He collided with another of these strange craft and both birds were eliminated.

The strange-pronged vessels headed directly for the two ships. Vipers swarmed them. Many of them were destroyed, a few managed to get through the Viper blockade. Both ships PDGs took them out, except for one. Ileen hit her thruster and dove after the strange vessel, which was on a collision course with the Acropolis' starboard flight pod. She was gaining on the vessel, but not fast enough. She fired her machine guns riddling it with a few shells but most missed her target. She switched to missiles, her targeting computer beeped as it acquired the target. The beeps grew shorter and shorter and then an explosion appeared on the hull of the Acropolis where the vessel had been heading.

"What was that?" Korran's voice came over the COM.

"Some strange vessel impacted the Acropolis, it looks like it went straight through the outer hull and into the inner hull," Ileen said, "but I think it was destroyed in the process."

"Very well, tell all vipers to land in the port flight pod," Korran said, "but before you do, finish those alien strike craft off please."

"You got it commander," Ileen said, "All wings finish off those sons of bitches! Teach them not to shoot at a Colonial Viper Force!"

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

The lights still flickered, but beyond the window lay the scattered remains of one of the Covenants mainstay vessels they were so proud of. Despite having the tech advantage, these 'un-advanced human vessels' had cooperatively annihilated a vessel many times both their combined tonnage.

"Not that I need to say anything," Marcus said, "But the enemy has been eliminated."

Gabriel leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath, "I think we owe our neighbors a debt of gratitude."

"if they hadn't stepped in, we would be searching through the wreckage of the Vigilance for survivors," Alex said with a smile, "I think I'm beginning to like those guys."

"Well that's a 180," Gabriel said.

"Yeah, saving my ass will change my opinion of you," Alex replied. "Well, slightly,"

"I know," Gabriel replied, "It's how you came to trust me."

Standing up Gabriel walked behind the forward wall to see the bridges wiring hanging down and sparks spewing from important looking consoles. He sighed, the damage was severe, but at least the damage to the enemy ship was considerably more severe.

"Tell Luke I want my ship working by the end of the week," Gabriel said.

Battlestar Acropolis – CIC

Sparks fell from the Dradis consol, and many of the CIC's lights were flickering. Broken glass littered the floor and metal fragments were scattered at random around the areas of fallen light fixtures. Aside from the superficial damage, however, the CIC was mostly intact. Korran leaned against the command table that was covered in burnt cinders that had fallen from above.

"DC teams responding to all critical areas," Sasha said, "looks like we are out of the storm."

"For now," Korran replied, "But somehow I think this fight has only just begun."

"Viper squadrons have landed in port flight pod," Celesta said with a smile, "Casualty reports say only seven pilots were lost."

"Seven pilots to many," Korran replied, "How about ship wide?"

"Mostly just minor injuries," Celesta replied, "Sick bay reports about a hundred wounded with severe burns, twelve killed, and about six hundred cuts, scrapes, and bruises."

Korran nodded, "Keep me informed with further updates. I'll be in my quarters reporting to the admiral. Sasha, you have the con."

Korran walked towards the door, carefully stepping over the doorframe to keep from tripping. He walked down the hall, its triangular shaped roof ending in a sharp angle above him. They had won the battle, but he feared the Colonies had been dragged into a horrifying war.

Battlestar Acropolis – Commander's Quarters

Korran walked into his room and slammed the door behind him. He preceded to dead bolt the door. After making sure the door was securely shut he began unbuttoning his uniform. After removing the uniform jacket Korran hung it over the chair. As he did so a piece of paper was blown from the desk onto the floor. Korran picked it up. It was folded twice, and was addressed 'commander' on the front. Mostly out of curiosity he opened it. In printed text, which had been glued to the sheet it said:

_And the 12 brothers shall deny the 13__th__ thrice before the end. The first shall be in passing; the second shall be in absolution; and the third shall be a falsehood. After this they shall deny no longer, and the embers of war will be lit. This is how the world begins, this is how the world ends. For with these denials they shall break the fate once set in stone. _

- _Scrolls of Tanginea 21:12_

And in someones handwriting was written:

_-Commander, thrice you have denied, and thrice it is as the scriptures have foretold. The Embers will ignite, and we shall be plunged into conflict._

Moments later the phone rang, still holding the letter he picked up the phone to hear Celesta's voice from the other end, "Commander, Admiral Hogan on the line."

"Put him on," Korran said.

The phone crackled and whined as the long-range connection was made, "Commander, I just arrived at Typhon, two of the three battlestar are in pieces, we arrived just in time to finish the enemy off before the Galactica could be destroyed."

"The Cylons?" Korran said a jump of anxiety coursed through his system.

"No," Said Hogan, "they called themselves the instruments of the Gods, Commander they were aliens."

"I know, we just got done fighting off one of their ships," Korran said, "What does this mean?"

Hogan took a deep breath, "It means we are at war, commander."

Korran looked at the paper in his hands reading the last line again, and then hung the phone up.

* * *

A/n There you have it, our first battle scene, hope you all enjoyed it. We acknowledge that there may be room for improvement in them and as such would welcome any advice you, our readers have to give. Now then, for the record and the sake of our story CCS class ships and below will not be equipped with Plasma torpedoes in this story as if they were, the story would have ended with this chapter. Now we know that the CCS class at least likely has them but there is still some measure of confusion in canon as to whether or not they do (on the wikia anyways). Even if we are wrong about this particular fact, this is fanfiction and as such we have some measure of creative license with it. Ah well review to keep us going and the puppy off crack yadda yadda yadda, till next time!


	5. Damage

Disclaimer: We do not own Halo or Battlestar Galactica or any of their associated affiliates. This is released without the intent of profit, unless you call the evetual domination of all of fanfictions readers profitable... he he he oh wait I said that out loud didn't I? Ah well have a doomsday device and keep quiet.

There were several reviewers expressing thier concern about how well the Colonials performed during the confrontation with the Covenant. The answer is simple my friend and co-author owns a book (i've verified it's exitence too) that has some measure of detail on Colonial armor/weapons etc. The fact is that they use an armor that is superior to the UNSC's Titanium A (surprised the hell out of me) and that their guns do pack a punch due to their Tylium explosive core. No where in the realm of a MAC shot, however they do have a much better rate of fire. Also note that if you carefully read the battle sequence again the Vigilance did do most of the hard hitting against the Covenant with its MAC weapons depleting the shields and cracking the hull. As for the Colonial missiles, they were ignored because in order to use the pulse lasers to defend from missiles Covenant shield need to be dropped in that area and considering the multiple guns shooting at them from that side they deemed it less damaging to simply keep the shields online. Hope that this clears some things up.

Damage

UNSC Vigilance – Engineering

Luke stood at the edge of the second floor in the engine room. The fusion cores glowed bright orange as they fueled the ships massive thirst for energy. Steam still hissed out of few secondary pipes that had ruptured in the recent battle, but most had been shut off. A droplet of sweat dropped from his brow and hit the ground. He looked at his wrist-mounted thermometer. The engine room was now at 130 degrees.

"We are done here," Said his assistant, "we are ready to commence shut down."

"After we shut the core down, we will have about two days to get it back up again, if we don't do it in that time, the entire crew will freeze to death," Luke said looking at the large man, "emergency backups only run the computer core and air recycling, it can't heat the entire ship."

"Then we get the cooling system up and running in 2 days," the uniformed officer said.

"Do it," Luke ordered.

The large clamps moved towards them as they covered the four core shields. A few moments later the constant throbbing of the mighty engines came to a halt, and the lights went out. Suddenly the engine room was cast in a deep blue hue as the emergency lighting systems kicked in.

"Two days people," Luke said, "no time to waste, bring in the pipes."

The men waiting outside the room walked in and were followed by a forklift that had been carrying the pipes. The fork lift put the huge box down as Luke's team began lifting massive Titanium A pipe lines out an ten men a pipe.

"It's about time we switched to the Titanium A piping anyway," Luke's assistant said slapping the scrawny chief engineer on the back nearly sending him over the edge, "the old iron tubing was a bad idea to begin with."

"I second that." Luke said.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

Gabriel walked onto the dimly lit bridge. Dozens officers were stationed around the room running their consoles, and sucking energy. He made his way to the front of the bridge where he took his command chair and looked out at the Battlestar floating nearby. Large black marks marked the massive ships armor, and the Spirit drop ships impact location still issued atmosphere from the flight pod.

"Sir, I don't like this," Alex said.

"Neither do I, but when they built the Vigilance they didn't cut any corners, except one, they made the exterior lining of the engines cooling system out of iron piping instead of Titanium A," Gabriel replied, "Personally I'm not going to whine about that. It's an easy fix."

"In the ship yard over Harvest," Alex said, "not in the middle of space."

"Technically two ships haven't been able to take out a CCS battle cruiser before, and yet we just finished one off," Gabriel said, "In 32 hours the ship will be back on line. Its only the engine room that had pressure breaks."

Alex sighed as he clasped his hands behind his back and looked out across the field of wreckage that had been shooting at them only a few hours earlier. He sighed heavily beginning to pace back and forth.

UNSC Vigilance – Engineering

Luke pulled back on the rope as he and several others attempted to lift the extremely heavy pipeline up to the two men holding the welding torches and the bolt drivers. Finally after a great deal of effort the rigged pulley system reached its limit. The two men above them began to drive the bolts into the pipe's lip. Soon they were throwing sparks down on Luke and his team as they welded the gap shut.

The entire room flickered with welding torchlight as several teams put new piping in across the massive engine room. The room was eerily quiet, with only the very dull hum of the minimally powered fusion cores remaining on so they could jump-start the reaction when they were done with the cooling system retrofit.

"I swear to god," Luke said, "That the next time they want to save money on a ship, I'm going to bitch slap them."

"Why are you whining?" Luke's assistant jested, "You're hardly doing anything."

Luke growled beneath his breath. Looking out across the room he saw the doors at the far end of the room open, and the female figure of Alana walk in. Once again she had returned to bug Luke about something he couldn't do anything about.

"If the captain wants a hot shower he's going to have to wait," Luke said, "Power's not on yet."

"I know," Alana said, "I came down here to check on the progress. With most of the ship off line, OPS doesn't have a whole lot of meaning."

"I see," Luke said, "Well I'm glad to have your company, why don't you grab a rope or a torch and I'll put you to work down here."

Alana nodded, unbuttoning her uniform and throwing onto the desk in the corner. Luke had to shake his head to stop from staring at the beautiful girls tight fitting under shirt.

"Where do you need me?" She asked she said roping her hair into a bun so it wouldn't get in her way.

"Well, if he can't find a place," Came the voice of Luke's assistant, "I sure could use you somewhere."

"Keep dreaming big guy," Alana replied.

"We need someone to watch the pressure valves, and to open them as we complete these sections," Luke said, "in the mean time if you want to head over to pipe B, we could use an extra hand bolting the mid section pipe, I hear them whining about it."

"Got it," Alana said grabbing a flash light and a torch from the rack in the corner, "maybe we can this girl back online again, just a little sooner."

"Thanks L.C." Luke said.

She simply smiled and walked off into the blue hue.

"She digs ya man," Said Luke's assistant.

"Thanks," Luke said, "Just what I needed to hear."

Battlestar Acropolis – Hangar deck – Portside

Celesta walked into the long hangar deck. Her eyes were met with site of dozens of vipers under repair. Many of them had sheared off wings and tails. Others were missing entire chunks out of the engine block or nose. Each damaged area was marked with a dark black burn, as if someone had removed the crucial piece with a sautering torch.

"What happened to these vipers?" Celesta asked out loud, though to no one in particular.

"That would be plasma burns," Came Leeman's voice from behind her, "at least that's what I was told."

"We only lost seven pilots, that's astounding!" Celesta said, "Look at these birds, they look awful."

"Ejection seats are great ways to save lives," Leeman said passing her by carrying a huge crate of supplies, "but I have to rebuild some of these vipers crucial parts. We won't be able to launch a full Viper complement for several months."

"Well as soon as we can shut the O2 leak from the starboard flight pod we should be able cut that time in half," Celesta said, "Right?"

"Theoretically," Leeman said, "But it's a question of man power as much as it is about operational repair platforms. I have 700 men under my command, and that's not going to increase any time soon. Working them on double shifts it would still take a month to get these beat up birds back in the air."

"I'll see if I can't round up any volunteers for you," Celesta said.

"Thanks," Leeman said, "Why are you down here?"

"I wanted to speak with you about Ileen," Celesta said, "I figured you knew her well."

"I do actually, but not because I care for her beautiful bird," Leeman said, "I met her a long time ago when she was still a high school student on Picon. She was in Korran's literature class."

Celesta coughed, "The commander taught literature?"

"Literature and writing yeah," Leeman said, "was really good at it, after he got out of the Picon Air Force he went into high school teaching until the Cylon war. He was somewhat of mentor to Ileen, probably why she joined the Colonial fleet."

"I had no idea, are they …together?" Celesta asked.

"Oh no, he sees her like a sister," Leeman said sliding under the viper with his tool kit, "the two of them are like the family they lost. When Korran's wife and two step children died during the cylon revolt …"

"The commander had a wife and step children!" Celesta said gasping for air, "That is not the man who commands this ship."

"Your right," Leeman replied picking at the vipers underside, "after she died the commander and I drifted apart. I think I remind him too much of what he lost. Anyway, Ileen sees that man as a god. When the attack happened Korran was in the school. The entire building collapsed down on top of them. They were the only two to come out alive almost three days later. She's alive thanks to him."

"Shit," Celesta said sitting down on an overturned box next to the deck chief, "and I thought I had it rough."

"Anyway Ileen lost her fair share of loved ones," Leeman said, "It seems to have sealed the bond between her and the commander. She's still available, I just don't know if she swings your way."

"I know, the hardest part about being in my minority," Celesta said with a laugh, "but I'll never know unless I try, right?"

"You know, the three best Pilots in the fleet are Korran Veritas, Ileen Silo and William Adama," Leeman said smiling, "and that's a fact, not opinion."

"Ileen is that good," Celesta asked.

"Listen if she does swing your way, and she might I know she's slept with women before, but she sleeps with everything," Leeman said as he pried the viper's fuel compartment door open showering his own face in grit, "you're not going to get her heart by asking if she's really the best pilot. She thinks she is."

"Why?" Celesta asked.

"She's never met William Adama," Leeman replied, "That's why."

"That is so like her" Celesta laughed, "What type of food does she like?"

"Okay that I can't help you with," Leeman said pulling on some wires, "Getting her to open up is your job, not mine, ask Korran if you really want to know."

"Thanks Leeman," Celesta said getting up, "I'll see if I can't get you those volunteers."

"You do that," Leeman said with a smile, "Oh and don't tell anyone about the Commander, there's a pool in the mess on what he did before the military. It's up to 500 cubits. Let's wait till a thousand and split."

"I'm down for that," Celesta said with a fake salute.

UNSC Vigilance – Corridor 5

Gabriel and Alex walked down the large honeycomb section shaped hallway. The hexgonal shape of the walls made the whole hall seem larger than it actually was. A large beam had collapsed in front of them, however. Behind the beam the grey hallway turned to black and the metal was twisted and gnarled from the immense heat of the plasma impact.

"They boiled away our plating fast," Alex said, "This entire area is structurally compromised."

"How did the battlestar manage to take as much as we did without a hull breach?" Gabriel asked, "other than that impact site."

"Well they have as much armor as the UNSC Trafalgar does," Alex said, "We have half that. And for the record they did report exterior hull breaches in several sections."

"Really, thirty feet of hull?" Gabriel said, "How did you find that out."

"I was speaking to their deck chief, and its actually thirty six feet of hull," Alex said, "Unlike Titanium A they use Tritanium, a hyper condensed form of titanium. It melts at a higher temperature."

"We need to get some of that," Gabriel said, "I'm tired of the Covenant blowing holes in my ship."

"It's also heavier," Alex replied, "meaning that they have to put out almost three times the amount of energy to move as we do."

"Ah," Gabriel said, "Another money thing. Get me some of that metal and some advanced reactors and we'd be fine."

Alex laughed slapping his CO on the back; "We have five times their turn radius. I say that's a sufficient benefit to our armor."

"Tell that to the forty men and women who were killed when that battle plating gave out," Gabriel said pointing to the now closed blast door.

Alex nodded. The groaning sound of the metal reached his ears as the physical forces of the ship pulled and pushed against the weakened support frames of the ships superstructure. Suddenly the deck plates beneath the two officers rattled. Looking down Alex noticed a crack in the deck that had not been there before. It ran up the wall in front of the blast door.

"We need to get out of here," Alex said.

"Yeah," Gabriel said, "I'm seeing that too.

They turned to bolt, but with a massive whine the crack expanded through the hull and began to suck air out of the hallway. They ran for the end of corridor as fast as they could. A beam collapsed in front of them. Diving underneath Alex slid to the Corridor's end. Then the plating was dragged screaming outwards by the pressure of the internal atmosphere. The side of the hall gave way and broke into pieces flying out into space. A huge wind shoved Alex against the metal beam that was now wedged between the two intact sides of the hall. Gabriel was being blown about like a rag doll as he held onto the same beam. Alex reached out his hand to his captain. But as Gabriel tried to take it his other hand lost its grip and he was sucked towards the breach. Grabbing onto the far support beam, which was still attached to the ships mainframe, he hung on only feet away from the vacuum of dark space.

The whining sound of the emergence blast doors could be heard behind him. With twenty feet, Alex knew he couldn't make it to the captain in time. Looking around he grabbed the side of the hallway and began to make his way towards the captain.

"Get out of here," Gabriel yelled, "Before those doors shut!"

"Over my dead body!" Alex yelled over the howling air rushing out of the ship.

Grabbing on to the siding once again Alex put his feet on the support bream and pushed with all his might. With the help of the blowing air the beam dislodged. However, like its partner it was still attached to one of the mainframes support beams. Instead of being sucked out the breach it bent dramatically now pointing towards the captain. Leaping off the safety of the wall Alex was sucked towards the breach. He held out his hand and grabbed onto the bouncing support beam. Wrapping one arm around the now bent frame he held out the other towards Gabriel.

"Take my hand Captain!" Alex yelled.

Gabriel pulled himself up and with all his might launched himself towards Alex. The captain flew towards Alex but then stopped and was about to be sucked back when Alex reached out at the risk of his own grip and grabbed his COs outstretched hand. With tremendous effort he began to make his way up the shaking framework towards the almost closed door. A bullet shot from behind Alex. The doors control panel exploded in sparks and the door stopped closing. Looking behind him he saw Gabriel's pistol in his hand. With the air still blowing against him with unstoppable and relentless force, Alex dragged Gabriel to the top of the bent frame, and heaved his captain onto the halls framework. The two crawled up the deck and through the half shut door.

"Now what!" Alex yelled, "The doors jammed."

Grabbing a panel and pulling it off the wall Gabriel revealed a manual release on the door. The panel was sucked towards the gap in the blast door and shot out the breach on the far side.

"We shut it manually!" Gabriel yelled back.

The two pulled the lever until it gave way. With the lever now protruding from the wall they yanked it forward away from the door. It fell quickly and with it the door slammed shut. The two officers collapsed with relief.

"Next time Luke says an area is dangerous, I'm going to believe him," Alex panted.

"I second that," Gabriel replied, "How much air did we lose?"

"In overall amounts, not that much," Alex replied.

"Why did you come back for me?" Gabriel asked, "Protocol says you should have left me to die in that case. We can't lose both senior officers."

"Screw protocol," Alex replied, "you're my captain."

UNSC Vigilance – Main Engineering

The second set of pipe replacements was now complete, as dozens of crew volunteers assisted in the repairs. Luke eased himself down onto a bench, his muscles were stiff from the immense amount of heavy lifting he had been doing. Looking around the engine room Luke saw the pipe's emplacements that had been repaired connecting the massive Fusion core he was sitting next to the centerpiece cutting main engineering in half.

Alana sat down next to Luke, she grabbed a water bottle and took a long drink from it before releasing her lungs of air and looking over at the tiny Chief engineer. She smiled slightly.

"I have to take a breather," She said, "Lifting forty ton pipes isn't easy without electricity."

"Well that's a fact," Luke said, "We are almost half way done. With all these officers pitching in we are going much faster than I anticipated.

"Maybe you should rely on their assistance more often," Alana replied, "You are one of the highest ranking officers on the ship."

Luke laughed, "Replacing pipe lines is one thing, getting them to work on a fusion core is quite another."

"So why did you join the UNSC navy when you could have landed a civilian contracting job easily?" Alana asked.

"Long story," Luke said, "has as much to do with family as it has to do with my skills."

"Tell me," Alana said, "unless it's too personal of course."

"No, it's okay," Luke said, "My father was an insurrectionist. We grew up on Arcadia, and he felt the taxes were too high. His answer to that was to join a group of murdering thugs to try and make change."

"I had no idea," Alana said, "What about you?"

"My mother went to their camp to confront him about it one night," Luke said, "She came back crying, I was maybe seven at the time. She grabbed me from my bed and put me in a car and drove me towards the city."

"Why, what was happening?" Alana asked.

"I don't know what happened, but my father showed up and we stopped, she got out and screamed at him for a while," Luke said, "Then a bullet went through my father's head. He just collapsed, my mother barely made it back to the car. She was shot as we were driving away."

"Oh my god," Alana said, "did she survive?"

"Yeah, she did," Luke said, "But she was paralyzed from the middle of her back down and still is today."

"So you joined the UNSC to get back at the Insurrectionists for killing your dad and injuring your mother?" Alana asked.

"No," Luke said, "I joined because it was the fastest way to make money for a young kid of eighteen. My mother still receives my pay, her injury costs a lot of money to treat."

"I'm so sorry," Alana said.

"So was I, but I'm not any more," Luke said, "I do what I love, I work on engines and ships, I make a difference."

"For such a tiny guy, you sure have a strong heart," Alana said, "We better get back to fixing this engine."

"Yeah, we better," Luke said grabbing a drink for himself and heading towards the nearest group of men attempting to heave a pipe.

Battlestar Acropolis – Captains Quarters

Korran sat at his large desk, surrounded by a picture of a beautiful blond haired woman and two young children, a small set of books held up by two beautiful rocks that acted as book casings, and a stack of papers that never seemed to get shorter. Grabbing one of the many papers that adorned the side of the desk Korran began reading it. It was a damage report for one section of hallway that the snipes needed to seal off. Sighing he put his pen to the sheet of paper and signed it.

There came a knock on his door. Looking up he acknowledged the knock with his standard greeting. The door was pushed open and Celesta walked in and saluted. Standing up Korran returned the young officers gesture. He indicated to a chair that sat in front of his desk. After standing at ease she sat down in the chair. She brushed her hair back with her hand and fitted it behind her ear.

"What can I do for you Major?" Korran said.

She was silent for a few moments, "What can you tell me about Ileen?"

Korran laughed, "A great deal, what in particular did you want to know?"

"Nothing in particular," Celesta said, "I also wanted to talk about gathering volunteers for the hangar deck. They are a little short handed with half their facilities shut down."

"Well I doubt you'll find too many eager volunteers," Korran said, "We are still recovering in other areas from our fight with that thing. But when the DC teams are finished keeping our ship from exploding or something, they might be willing to lend their techniques to repairing vipers."

"Thank you, sir," Celesta said getting up, "If there's nothing else, sir."

She walked towards the door, "Ileen is an interesting woman," Korran said, "She's lost almost everything she's ever loved. She'll fear she'll lose you too."

"Sir?" Celesta said.

"I'm not blind," Korran said looking up from his desk, "her worst fear is to fall in love. She's afraid she'll lose it like she lost Kester, her family."

"How did she loose her family?"Celesta asked turning around.

"That's a story she has never told me," Korran said, "and even if she had, I believe it would be her right to let you know or not."

"Leeman told me about how you met Ileen," Celesta said, "I'm so sorry for what happened."

Korran stopped as he glanced at the picture at the side of his desk, "So am I," he replied, "but no amount of remorse can return what the Cylons took from any of us. It's our job as a people to move on. As it will be again when this new found fight of ours comes to a close."

"Is it true, that we are in a state of war?" Celesta asked.

"That's for the politicians to decide, Major," Korran said looking back up at Celesta, "but right now it looks like we are heading in that direction."

"Favorite food?" Celesta blurted out with a minor blush. "What's her favorite food?"

Korran burst out laughing, he couldn't help himself, and "Oh gods you're going to love this. It's a small dish developed on Scorpia, it's called a deep dish pizza."

"A pizza?" Celesta said, "A girl who can fly every type of aircraft, recite half a dozen different poets, and rattle off facts most don't know even exist, and her favorite food is pizza!"

"Oh and if you tell her I told you that, you and I will be floating out an air lock together," Korran said, "so use the information, but keep its source a secret."

"Yes sir," Celesta said snapping to a salute.

"But Celesta," Korran said saluting back, "I know you tend to be rough, but you can't treat her like a battlestar. Anything else you want to know should be asked of her."

Celesta nodded and exited the room.

"Love," Korran said, "5000 years and it hasn't changed a tiny bit."

UNSC Vigilance – Engineering

The last pipe was heaved into place. The sparks flew off its surface as it was sealed. The work teams backed away from the shining grey pipes that had just been fastened in place. Alana jogged up to him.

"We look good to go," Alana said.

Luke nodded, "I need you to regulate the pressure valves, Andy, I need your help initiating the coolant flow and getting the engine back online."

Alana and Andy both bolted to their positions. Alana crawled up the ladder to the top of the engine core where a series of holographic consoles waited to come to life. The moment her hands touched the air over the consoles bright blue representations of charts and graphs popped up all around her. Tom climbed up another later adjacent to Luke and grabbed a massive lever that sat opposite the first engine core. Luke climbed the ladder right behind him. He came up in the center of a half circular console himself. Her placed his hands on the dimly glowing object and holographic controls appeared spreading around him from his hands point of contact.

"All right!" Luke yelled, "On three engage the coolant!"

"Yes sir!" Andys voice echoed from the midway section of the engine room.

"One! Two! Three!" Luke called out.

The hissing sound of liquid nitrogen flowing through the pipes reached Luke's ears. Luke put his for finger on a holographic lever. He pushed it up and the lever followed his finger to the midway point. Bellow him, a massive vibration erupted, and then the large columns that had sealed off the core were removed casting the engine room in an orange glow. Slowly the glow increased until it light the entire room clearly. The rumbling sound of the Fusion reactor again filled the engine room. The fans below them turned on and then the lighting system flickered to life, finally illuminating the whole engine room in a bright white fluorescent glow.

"Pressure is good!" Came Alana's voice.

"No leaks in the coolant!" Tom yelled.

"Then it's about time we engaged the second core, eh?" Luke yelled back.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

Gabriel and Alex walked on to the bridge, still lit with a deep blue hue. Only a few officers remained at their post running simple programs and security protocols. Most of the consoles were off line, and a few were out of order after the last battle. They had been sectioned of with caution tape. A prudent measure since the power conduits might shoot sparks out of them at any time. Suddenly a low hum filled the room and the lights flickered to life, followed quickly by the holographic panels on the consoles. The damaged few exploded with sparks, but lay fairly still afterwards. The bridge crew cheered. Gabriel walked down to his chair and took a seat. The sound of air flowing through the vents began to be heard as all the other bridge sound returned. Cheering from the bridge crew sounded for a few moments until a look from Alex set them back to their respective duties.

"Looks like our ship is back," Gabriel said.

"More or less," Alex replied, "We lost a little bit back there."

"We almost lost us," Gabriel replied.

"Sir?" Marcus replied as his console beeped, "Sir the hull breach on the port side of the ship lost one of the bulkheads containing it."

"We know," Alex said, "we were there."

"Please don't remind me, any news from Harvest?" Gabriel replied.

"Unfortunately yes sir," Marcus replied, "Admiral Cole says the Covenant assaulted with a Reverence class battleship. No ship that has ever reported seeing one has survived. His words are: 'now we know why'

"How bad?" Gabriel replied.

"Of the twenty ships stationed over Harvest and the thirty Admiral Cole brought back, seven remain intact, sir," Marcus replied.

The statement was followed by an utter silence broken only by the sounds of beeping consoles and humming holographic projectors, "Seven?" Gabriel said at length.

"Yes sir," Marcus replied, "The enemy battleship and its escorts are a junk pile though."

"It took fifty of our ships to bring that thing down?" Gabriel said.

"Our fleet can't keep taking losses like that sir," Alex said, "If they attack, we will lose Harvest."

"What was the escort?"Gabriel asked.

"Four CCS Battlecruisers and about ten corvettes," Marcus replied reading the battle report, "It was a good fight, but cost us more than we could afford."

"It sounds like Pyrrhus and Cole are having the same day," Alex said, "The next time the Covenant arrive, we will either die fighting for Harvest, or be forced to fall back."

"They are headed for Alpha Aurigae sir," Marcus replied, "The colony there is under assault from Covenant forces, its only two CCS battleships, he feels he can take them out with little to no casualties."

"Then when we get our FTL back, we will be headed there as well," Gabriel replied, "and I hope it's soon."

"And sir, the Colonials have driven off a Covenant assault as well," Marcus said, "They lost two battlestars and an Anchorage, but the Covenant lost a Reverence class as well."

"Anchorage?" Gabriel asked.

"A Colonial Admiral by the Name of Hogan has reported to us personally," Marcus said, "Something about future cooperation, anyway an Anchorage is some form of space station."

"Our stations were obliterated around harvest," Alex said.

"Yeah," Gabriel, "If it fought a Reverence class for any period of time though, it's probably huge."

Battlestar Acropolis – Mess Hall

Ileen sat down with her mashed potatoes, green beans and strange looking approximation of a meat loaf. She poked the strange brownish material before putting a piece in her mouth. Swallowing she gagged slightly, she was fairly sure that meatloaf wasn't supposed to feel like eating a rubber duck. Moments later the black haired Celesta sat down across from her with a similar meal. She too jabbed at the meatloaf. Wrinkling her forehead she took a bite. Grimacing she swallowed as well, Ileen laughed out loud.

"Not exactly a Tauron meal," Ileen said.

"I'll eat just about anything that is food," Celesta said, "But I'm not sure leather qualifies."

"That's for sure," Ileen said smiling, "but we are soldiers, we eat what we are served."

"Yes," Celesta said, "We are soldiers."

They looked at each other. Ileen was drawn to those deep brown eyes.

Battlestar Acropolis – Starboard Hangar pod

Leeman walked into the hangar deck. The lights flickered off and on again. The ensign who was with him had already begun to pick up hoses from the floor and pile them into the large crate they were about to be walking across the ship to the other Hangar pod.

"Make sure you get the nuts and bolts from the work bench," Leeman called out to the ensign.

"Yes sir," The young officer replied.

Grabbing several large containers of tools Leeman dragged them to the crate and dropped them in. The ensign turned from the workbench and walked towards Leeman, the large jar of magnetic stem bolts clutched to his chest with both hands. Leeman smiled slightly. The boy hadn't figured out the large jar had a handle. Suddenly figuring it out he grabbed the handle and pulled it out and lifted it up to see what was in it. Suddenly he dropped the jar to the ground it hit the concrete floor and shattered, spewing hundreds of bolts everywhere. Leeman sighed.

"Chief," The ensign said apologetically.

"It's okay," Leeman replied, "you'll just have to pick them up."

"No sir," The ensign said still holding his arm up, "Something's got my hand."

"What do you mean something's got your hand," Leeman replied with a laugh, "There's nothing there."

"No sir," The ensign responded, "But I can't move my hand." He tugged at the air as if something had his hand.

Leeman opened his mouth to respond when a snap-hiss sound filled the air, and two glowing prongs shot through the ensign's chest. Looking down, the ensign's eyes grew wide, as he was lifted up by nothing. The two prongs were yanked out, and the ensign was dropped where he fell to his knees and then did a face plant into the concrete. The glowing prongs belonged to a curved blade that was glowing. It had two curves on either side of it, and thinned into points at the end of both glowing lines.

The glowing blade rose up as if were being held and began to approach Leeman. Stumbling backwards he tripped over the box tipping it over all its contents spilled over the floor tangling his feet in hose line. He tried crawling backwards but the hose was pinned under the box and refused to move. The floating blade approached.

* * *

A/n and commence the obligatory flaming, and all that fun stuff, I have my s'more materials ready... and so does the puppy. Hope you all enjoyed that evil little cliff-hanger that we deemed it prudent to leave you with. And with that I bid you farewell.


	6. The Valley of Death

Disclaimer: I nor my co-author own Halo, Battlestar Galactica, nor any of their affiliates. This fanfiction is for entertainment purposed only and all that fun stuff.

Okay then! It's been a while since the last update, anywho general response to reviews etc. First and foremost, yes the Cylons will eventually show up, though that is a ways off in the future. And the whole point with the incident aboard the Vigilance was simply an attempt to break the mold on the Colonials being the only faction with religious nutjobs, you don't believe the UNSC will have them too? Look at our history, namely the crusades, if that doesn't prove that we will do a great many things for our beliefs (one of mankinds most incredible traits in my opinion) then I don't know what will. I apologize if it was offensive to some people it was not the intent of the chapter. This fic is rated M for a reason though and it isn't necessarily due to language or very well described violence. However i'm running on and on, so without further delay I give you the next chapter of Embers of War.

The Valley of Death

Battlestar Acropolis – Starboard Hangar bay

The glowing blade approached, the hum of its presence drawing ever closer. Pulling as hard as he could, the heavy box finally let the hose go. Leeman was free as he darted across the long, wide hangar deck. Like a lion letting its prey run, the blade leapt into the air and made chase. Looking behind him, Leeman watched as the glowing blade closed the distance between the two. Sliding through the door to his office he slammed the metal door shut and dead bolted it. Scrambling around he grabbed the phone and hit 'CIC'.

"We have intruders on the hangar deck," Leeman yelled, "We have intruders on the Starboard hangar deck."

"Repeat," Came Sasha's voice, "Did you say intruders?"

The door jumped as the creature on the other side tried to smash it open, Leeman backed against the door instinctively, "You heard correctly, we have intruders."

"Can you describe them?" Sasha said.

"Invisible," Leeman said, "They are frakking invisible!"

Suddenly a searing hot sensation burned through his chest as the glowing blade stabbed through the door and impaled him through the middle. He dropped the phone his hands shaking, his eyes watered.

"I don't want to die," Leeman said as the blade was retracted.

The world began to spin as his legs gave way. He slid to the floor, the dark room fading out of view. His shaking hand clutched at the twin sections of burnt flesh where the blade had pierced. No blood was flowing from his body, but the skin was wrinkled and burned as he touched it as if it had been cauterized. He felt the energy bleed out of his limbs as his life drained away.

"I haven't fixed Ileen's viper," Leeman said, "She's going to kill me."

With those words Leeman's vision departed and he saw his body limp against the door, his eyes wide open, glazed over.

Battlestar Acropolis – Mess Hall

Ileen and Celesta sat opposite each other eating the less than adequate representation of meat loaf. The alarms blared. Both women dropped their utensils and jumped to their feet. As they were heading to the door, the XO's thick accent graced the room.

"This is Colonel Sasha Iolus," the voice echoed, "We have reported intruders in the starboard flight pod, all military personnel near that area prepare to intercept, all personnel on board arm yourselves for enemy contact. They are using stealth technology, do not rely on your eyes."

"Well that's just lovely," Ileen said unbuttoning her guns holster, "We are near that area, do you have a side arm?"

"No," Celesta replied, "I don't usually carry a gun off duty. Especially when I was about to …"

"Doesn't matter what you were about to do," Ileen replied, "Come with me, you just became my partner. Watch my back, and let's get you a gun."

"Wait," Celesta said, "Aren't I the senior officer?"

"Ever seen a fire fight?" Ileen asked.

"Yes," Celesta replied a little cautiously.

" Well take orders from me or a marine captain," Ileen said, "And we both might see tomorrow so you can do whatever it is you were doing."

"Right," Celesta replied.

The two rushed out of the room with the rest of the mess halls occupants. They made their way to the weapons locker that was closest to them. The battle for the ship had begun.

Battlestar Acropolis – CIC

Sasha stood at her side of the command table with the alarms blaring in her ears. Dozens of officers poured into the CIC, and several marines had positioned themselves around the points in the huge room they could cover the door from. Cole walked in with a giant box. Walking strait over to the command table he dropped it on top of the glowing surface.

"Ensigns through commanders," Cole said looking around, "Pick the shit in this box up and put it around your waste!"

Shasha reached into the box and grabbed a side arm from one of the boxes racks. It was neatly placed in a holster with a belt wrapped around it. Sasha pulled the belt and the knot gave way unfurling the strip of leather. She then clasped the belt to her waste and drew the gun, checking its chamber. It was loaded.

"Where is the big man?" Cole asked.

"Right here," Came Korrans voice who walked into the flashing CIC, he had already adorned a gun on his hip.

"Sir," Sasha said saluting."Commander on deck!"

"As you were," Korran replied, "Pass those around. I don't need all 70 officers running up to the front of the CIC. This isn't college."

"Yes sir," Cole said.

"Then get your ass over to the flight pod," Korran growled, "I want those frakkers off my boat."

Cole saluted and headed out towards the first row of stations with the heavy box clutched in his hands. Sasha looked across the table as Korran took his position, his green eyes reflecting the pulsating Dradis screen.

"No contacts," Korran said looking back at Sasha, "Why board a ship if you can't take it?"

"Maybe they think they can," Sasha said, "How did they get aboard?"

"That large craft must have survived the impact with our flight pod," Korran said, "They will have come from there."

"How many?" Sasha said.

"No idea, but I think I know who to ask," Korran said grabbing the phone, "Get me the Vigilance."

Battlestar Acropolis - Armory – Deck 42 (Starboard Flight pod causeway 5)

Ilene grabbed the pistols and tossed one to Celesta who caught it with more grace than most CIC officers could have. Turning her attention to the rack of rifles Ilene pulled a shotgun from the rack. She broke the gun in half revealing its two shell chamber. Grabbing two shells that adorned the side of the gun she dropped them in and snapped the gun shut and cocked it.

"Shotty or assault?" She queried Celesta.

"Neither," Celesta said.

Turning around to argue she watched as Celesta finished loading two K-72 sub machine guns. Shaking her head slightly in disbelief of the duel wielding operations officer Ilene gave Celesta an accepting shrug and raise of the eyebrows.

"You can use them, right?" Ilene said.

"Ilene," Celesta replied leaning against the back of the wall, "I have four brothers and no sisters. I learned how to use these when I was fourteen. My father didn't get to the top of the food chain on Aerlon by being politically correct, he was a thug and a gangster, and so was I."

"Well I learn something new every day," Ilene said, "did not see that one coming."

"Hey," Celesta protested, "not my fault my family sucks, it's not like I can pick who they are anyway."

"It's just that your just much sweeter than a gangster," Ilene said.

"Only when I'm being me," Celesta said, "But when bad guys get on my ship I get pissed."

The two women exited the armory with their primary weapons held out in front of them. Tapping Celesta's waste Ileen indicated the rear. Celesta turned around and the two walked down the hall covering both their twelve and six.

Battlestar Acropolis – Starboard flight pod Causeway 2

Kamen walked through the doorway, his assault rifle pointed in front of him. He fingered his pistol with his currently free hand to make sure the metallic weapon was still there. It gave him comfort to know that the rapid-fire assault rifle wasn't the only weapon that stood between him and the enemy.

"We ready?" Came a marine's voice.

"Just finished handing out guns to the pussies in the CIC," Cole said, "So the ship is as secure as it can be with invisible aliens aboard."

"What do they look like?" Another marine said as they began to walk down the hall in formation.

"What part of 'invisible' did you not understand?" Cole said.

"Invisible?" The marine replied, "How can they be invisible?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Cole replied, "it'll just surprise them that much more when I shoot their ass off."

"How are you going to shoot them if you can't see them?" A female Marine piped up.

"If they can shoot at us, it means they are solid," Cole said, "If they are solid, it's just a matter of watching our surroundings. Keep an eye on everything, and don't hesitate to shoot. If someone's sneaking up on a squad of armed marines, they are either bad guys or morons. We don't need either on this ship."

"That's a little harsh," The female marine said, "what if it's an accident? Like they walk around a corner?"

"Women," Cole said shaking his head, "So much smarter than us men. Just keep an eye on everything and check your fire. No shooting morons then!"

"Women are not smarter than us," The first marine said.

"Speak for yourself," Cole replied, "I want to live to see tomorrow, and an angry woman scares me more than invisible creatures."

"Well, you need to get your priorities straight," The female marine said.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

"They have invisible enemies aboard the Acropolis," Gabriel said turning to Alex.

"Elites?" Alex said.

"Elites" Gabriel confirmed, "I just got off the horn with Korran, he thinks they might have come from the Spirit drop ship that smashed into their hull."

"In that case," Alex said, "They could have up to 30 elites on their ship, should we send help?"

"The Acropolis has a complement of around 1000 marines," Gabriel said, "They assured me that assistance will not be necessary." "Besides, I highly doubt that 30 elites could take that ship. But in the event that they do we should be ready."

"Agreed," Alex said, "I'll have a few nukes loaded, I'd hate to shoot them down though. They have been so helpful."

"That's the nature of war," Gabriel replied.

Battlestar Acropolis – Starboard flight pod Causeway 2

The squad of six marines followed Cole through the corridors of the battlestar. A few moments later the sound of gunfire reached their ears. Exchanging quick glances with one another the group bolted towards the sounds. They rounded a bend in the causeway and came face to face with a dozen dead marines, sprawled across the floor. At the end of the doorway a marine floated in mid air with a glowing pronged blade protruding from his chest and mid back. Some invisible force tossed the dying man to the ground. The blade turned towards the nearby door and impaled it.

"I guess they don't know you have to turn the wheel to open the door," The female marine said right before she gasped as a glowing blue blade impaled her.

Two other marines were impaled as well. Cole clenched his fist in the air to signal the retreat and something grabbed it. One of the glowing blades rose above him prepared to impale him. His finger squeezed the trigger of his assault rifle and a dozen gunshots rang out. Their percussive force echoed through the empty corridor, and the things grip on his arm loosened. He kicked the hostile mass as the scream of another marine reached his hears. His kick dislodged the creature's hand, and Cole rolled backwards and continued to fire. His gun lit up with every shot. As his bullets bounced off of an unknown object, a strange shimmering creature appeared from the location. It staggered backwards as multiple shots pummeled its purple armor. Its face was almost snake like and reptilian but its head possessed a strange mouth. The creature's bottom jaw was split in two, and its teeth protruded menacingly. Its orange eyes seemed to glow. In one hand it held the blade and in the other it held some strange small purple gun. He raised it and fired, a green orb appeared at the end of the gun and raced forward, but Cole dodged the bullet as it impacted the side of the corridor. Melted metal dripped from the side.

Cole again squeezed the trigger riddling the creature with bullets. Electric jolts seemed to appear around the creature. Still no harm had been done. The creature let out a low laugh. Its growling voice speaking in a language that was unfamiliar to Cole. Again he pulled the trigger. The bolts disappeared and the voice stopped laughing replaced by pained yells. Purple liquid splashed from the creature's armor where Cole's bullets had impacted it several times. It fell to the ground gasping for air. A roar from behind him caused Cole to duck, which was fortunate as a bright glowing blade buzzed over him. He rolled forwards and bolted, a green orb smashing into the wall behind him as he dove behind a structural support frame protruding, coincidentally, from the wall of the corridor. He checked his gun and saw only three bullets left.

Grabbing a new magazine he through the old cartridge away and jammed the new one into its place and cocked his weapon. Peering out from behind the frame he saw the glowing blade approaching. The rest of his team lay mutilated on the floor. Grabbing two grenades in one hand Cole pulled the pins and chucked them, then proceeded to run. He glanced behind him to see the explosions blow two now visible creatures into the wall, where they both pulled themselves up. Slamming the door behind him, he dead bolted it and grabbed his radio.

"These mothers are mean!" Cole yelled into the small black box, "They are aboard. I killed one, but it took almost an entire magazine to do it! These shitheads need a lesson in how to die!"

Battlestar Acropolis – Starboard Flight pod Causeway 5

Celesta carefully stepped backwards through the door as she looked down the hallway for any sign of the intruders. The entire hall was devoid of life, as everyone had either run to grab a gun or to get to safety if they weren't combat trained.

"Where are they?" Ilene's voice came from behind her.

"Sasha said they were invisible," Celesta answered in a whisper.

Suddenly something shimmered slightly in the distance. Celesta gently touched Ilene's shoulder, and nodded in the direction of the shimmer. It appeared again for a brief moment as the two women watched it.

"Well it isn't a trick of the light," Ilene said.

"On three?" Celesta said.

"Three," Ilene agreed.

Celesta held up three fingers and ticked them down. When she made a fist, she pulled the trigger on her submachine gun and drew the other one from its holster. Ilene's shotgun fired two round causing the shimmer to become the ugliest alligator Celesta had ever laid eyes on. In moments the creature was on the ground gushing purple liquid from dozens of bullet holes. A sound from behind her brought celesta around and she opened fire. Her bullets pelted an invisible wall until a second alligator like creature appeared shimmering from thin air. The concussive bang of a shotgun caused the creatures armor to flicker with electric rings. Celesta's weapons fired their last rounds pelting the creature. A second shot gun shell threw the creature down. Unlocking the magazines Celesta dropped the two empty cartridges and slammed the guns down on her belt locking in the second set of magazines she had. Pulling up from her belt she felt the guns tug back as the magazines hooks broke.

The monster now got up only to be rattled with holes. As it fell her bullets hit another invisible object as a glowing blade appeared out of nowhere. However, the creature attached to it was soon visible as Celesta's bullets pounded the creature's armor causing the electric bolts to ring around it again. Two shotgun shells fired in quick succession, but didn't hit the creature in front of her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw two more ugly creatures with blades approaching Ilene. Looking back she saw the first creature fall to the ground spilling the purple liquid, as did his two comrades.

A green orb shot from one of the creature's weapons hitting the roof. Celesta screamed as a stream of molten titanium dripped onto her shoulder. Gasping she opened fire on the two approaching creatures until her guns were empty, she again unlocked the clips dropping them and loaded her last two magazines into the guns. Two shot gun shells rang out as they were fired. The first creature took both hits. However, it was brought down seconds later as Celesta opened fire. The two women jumped backwards as the last visible creature swung its sword at them.

Jumping up Celesta opened fire again pelting the creature with bullets. Its gun glowed green with anger as it made for them. The orb fired, and Celesta leaped to the side. A blazing white-hot pain caused her vision to blur as something impacted her just below the ribcage in the oblique region. She felt her body thrown out of her dive and onto the ground. She screamed uncontrollably as the pain raced through her. Her vision was all but gone until the pain subsided slightly. Above her stood the creature raising its blade to finish her off. She clenched her fists waiting for the blow. Two shotgun shells rang out and purple liquid exploded from the creature's chest once and then twice. Its body was flipped by the force directly over Celesta and smashed almost comically upside-down, into where the floor met the wall behind it.

Ilene's face appeared above hers, "Celesta, can you hear me!"

"Yeah," Celesta said the effort to speak sent shots of pain through her and she winced, "I think I'm hit."

"It's a serious burn," Ilene responded, "but hang in there."

Two green orbs shot over her head followed by three more.

"We have to go," Ilene said putting her arms under Celesta's waste.

"I always wanted your arms around me," Celesta said, "This wasn't how I…"

The world went black.

Battlestar Acropolis – Starboard Flight Pod Causeway 2

Cole locked his firing pin, and waited. The invisible monstrosities pushed open the heavy door. Grabbing the G-4 that was in his combat vest he removed his sock and placed all four packages inside his sock. The creatures drew ever closer, sniffing the air. Assuming they shared traits of other predatory lizards, Cole expected they could smell him. Grabbing the G-4 filled sock he dipped it in the can of grease he had pulled out of the repair closet he was hiding in. After removing the sock from the sticky and yet slick material, he positioned himself to strike. The creatures walked up to the next door. Leaping out of his shaded position he jammed the sock onto the nearest strange creature with all his force. The creatures stumbled back, more from surprise than Cole's weight. Grabbing the partially closed door, he slammed it shut and dead bolted it. He pulled his detonator out of his vest pocket and flicked open. He heard the sound of deep growling voices speaking a strange language on the other side of the door.

"Enjoy the sticky bomb," Cole said, and hit the trigger on the device.

The whole room rumbled as Cole dived for the solid shelf. The door burst off its hinges flying into the room followed by a fireball. The alarms sounded and the fire suppression systems activated, drenching Cole with water. Crawling out from his hiding place, Cole admired the torn up room and three dead reptilian bodies. A fourth visible alien stumbled across the room, purple blood dripped from his sides and giant red-black marks indicated severe burns. Whatever protected it from the bullets didn't work against a good G-4 explosion, or wasn't powerful enough. He aimed with his rifle at the shocked creature and finished it off with a few rounds.

"You do not mess with fire," He screamed, "and I am fire!"

Kicking the dead body of the creature Cole stepped through the torn bulkhead door and walked towards the ladder leading up the decks. Growling he purposely stepped on and smashed the creatures Jaw.

"I will have your asses for my team," He said ripping off the strange helmet of the creature.

"They got your team to?" came the voice of the infamous Jason Kelly.

Cole turned around and came face to face with the ships tactical officer. Jason's one eye seemed to bolt back and forth with tremendous speed as he glanced around the room. He wore standard marine gear with an assault rifle slung over his back. In his hands was a rocket launcher, though he did not have a reload, Cole figured with a rocket launcher inside a starship, he would either not need a reload or would finish himself off before he could use it.

"Yeah," Cole replied, "They did."

"They got several other teams as well, I must have seen twenty dead marines on my way down here," Jason said.

"What's with the rocket launcher?"Cole asked.

"Heavy weapons," Jason said, "These things appear to require an introduction to them"

"You can say that again," Cole hissed, "We don't know how many there are."

"No more than thirty," Jason said, "I've come from the CIC, the commander sent me to finish this off. They have enough marines in there I won't make a difference."

"You sound like your trying to convince yourself you shouldn't be there," Cole said, "I sure as hell could use another seasoned combatant on this one."

"I am," Jason said, "I don't like leaving the commander's side."

"Then lets finish these shit heads off," Cole said, "You said thirty, well no more than 25 now."

"Nice work by the way," Jason replied, "you've ruined an entire corridor."

UNSC Vigilance – Captain's Quarters

Gabriel awoke with a start as his Com system beeped at him. He pulled the gray blanket off and sat up. Whacking the COM alarm with his hand brought up a holographic representation of his operations officer.

"Captain," Alana said, "We have word from Admiral Coles fleet."

Gabriel sat up straight, "Okay Alana, you have my attention."

"They engaged a small covenant force in the Origami asteroid field, sir," Alana replied, "And he managed to save the colony. However he lost two more ships in the process."

"We need to get there to assist, what's the status of our FTL?" Gabriel asked.

"Our drive was disabled in the last fight, the drive's primary coil was knocked out of alignment, and it will take several more hours to fix," Alana said.

"Tell Luke that time is of the essence," Gabriel said, "and I will personally go down there and help him if that's what he needs, but the slip space drive needs to operational yesterday!"

"Yes sir," Alana said as the holographic image of her disappeared.

"We should be there," Gabriel hissed to himself.

Battlestar Acropolis – Starboard flight Pod Causeway 2

Jason held the bulky rocket launcher on his shoulder. The heavy barrel protruded out in front of him. He glanced over his other shoulder to see Cole walking backwards protecting their rear. Both men looked for anything that might indicate the presence of one of the invisible creatures that were currently freely perusing about the ship.

"Any idea what to look for?" Jason asked quietly.

"When they move they shimmer almost like hot air in the middle of summer," Cole said, "But if you're not looking right at it you'll miss it."

"How many teams?" Jason asked.

"Five teams in this section, more on the way," Cole replied, "But they cut my squad to pieces, literally."

Suddenly a small blue ball rolled out in front of them, it seemed to be emitting gaseous blue fire of a sort. The two men glanced at it and then at each other.

"That looks bad," Jason said.

They turned and ran down the hall. A blue flash and large bang from behind them was followed by a searing pain on Jason's back as he was lifted from his feet and smashed into the doorframe of the hall. He hit the ground, his head throbbing. A loud ringing muffled every sound. Rolling over he saw a shimmering effect that Cole had described. He pushed himself up to his feet as the shimmer approached. Lining up the sights with the approaching Elite at the end of the corridor he squeezed the trigger.

The rocket shot forth from the launcher furiously, flying directly into the patch shimmering air and exploded. The concussive blast roared down the hall blowing Jason off of his feet a second time. Glancing up he saw Cole lying unconscious on the ground. He felt the man's neck; the rhythmic throbbing of Cole's carotid artery assured Jason that Cole was still alive.

Looking behind him Jason caught site of three of the alligator like people pushing themselves up after the blast, the rocket had killed two of them. Jason laughed at the dumb creatures misfortune. Grabbing the unconscious Marine captain Jason walked through the door way and slammed it shut.

"Never get trapped at the end of a causeway on a flight pod," He said as he grabbed the lever next to the door and yanked it down.

The sound of air hissing out reached his ears. The dial on the side of the door dropped from the green area to the yellow and continued to drop, seconds later it dropped to the '0'marker indicating the air had been sucked out of the causeway.

"I don't care what the frak you are," Jason said, "You'll die in space."

Cole jolted to consciousness pushing himself up slightly before losing his balance and crashing to the ground with a moan.

"Did we get blown up by a glowy blue, thing or do I have a hang over?" Cole asked.

"I think you have both," Jason said grabbing the lever and lifting it up.

"How are we alive?" Cole asked, "And where's your rocket launcher?"

"I dropped it for you," Jason said, "and then I vented the atmosphere from the causeway."

Jason yanked the door open. The hissing sound of air passing through the broken hard seal of the door could be heard as the door was swung on its hinges. Looking through Jason saw five dead creatures lying on the floor.

"Well, they aren't coming back," Jason said, "and they appear to be searching the ship in groups of five?"

"What are they searching for?" Cole asked.

'Main engineering or the CIC," Jason said.

"They are heading forward, they must not realize this is a flight pod, and the ship requires one to travel by tram," Cole said.

"Lucky for us we managed to get to the end," Jason replied, "but I think some of them may have gone down the tramway."

"How do you figure?" Cole said.

"The door is right there and its opened," Jason replied, "Protocol states that it should remain shut at all times. Even in a rush one of our men would have shut the door."

Cole pushed himself to his feet, "Then we go after them."

Battlestar Acropolis – Deck 40

Ilene slammed the door to the tramway as the creature in pursuit slammed into it. She winced at the sound of the reverberating metal. Tritanium steel was not a lightweight material and hurt like hell when one ran into it. She shifted her weight to ensure she didn't let the injured Celesta fall, and then dead locked the door. She headed towards sickbay. However, she did not get far before the sound of the metal being broken through reached her ears. The glowing blade had penetrated the door and was cutting a hole through it.

Looking around Ilene spotted a bathroom. She bolted inside and slammed the door shut, dead bolting it. She lay Celesta down and grabbed a plethora of towels and stuffed them under her head. Moments later Celesta coughed and opened her eyes.

"Where are we?" Celesta said.

"Deck 40 bathroom?" Ilene said.

Celesta tried sitting up but let out a gasp as she did so, collapsing back on the towels, "What happened?" She moaned.

"You got shot," Ilene replied, "and I have no idea by what, but it burned you badly."

Ilene grabbed some towels and knelt down over Celesta and ripped her undershirt open around the wound and covered it with the towel. Celesta hissed in agony as she did so.

"It's ugly," Ilene said, "But it's not bleeding, looks almost cauterized." "Still we need to get you to sickbay before an infection or shock finishes you off."

Celesta laughed slightly, "How am I not dead?"

"It hit your lower right chest, just below the ribcage" Ileen said, "aside from burning you, the bolt went clean through and seared your arteries and capillaries in that area. If this had been a bullet you would be dead."

"Sort of wish I was," Celesta said, "I feel like an idiot."

"Why?" Ilene asked.

"Because of what I said before I passed out," Celesta replied.

Ilene laughed, she felt the blood rush to her cheeks, "and who said I might not feel the same way?"

The two looked at each other. Ilene bent towards Celesta looking into her deep brown eyes. Slowly their lips met in a kiss. They kissed and again and then they jumped as something smashed against the door.

"Hell of a time to pick?" Celesta said with a smile, "Right before we get killed by an oversized Scorpia lizard."

"We are not going to die," Ilene said, "I've lost one love in my life, and I sure as hell am not about to lose another."

Again the creature smashed against the door, and then the blade cut into the door and began to slowly slice the door away. Molten Tritanium dribbled from the blades contact with the door.

"You'd think he'd just cut the dead bolt with that thing," Celesta said as Ilene glanced around the room.

"I don't think they have doors you have to open manually," Ilene said, "I think a good old fashioned lock completely stumps them."

Grabbing her side arm Ilene pulled the trigger. The gun fired with the familiar bang. The piping on one of the sinks exploded with the bullets impact and spewed water all over the floor. It hissed as it made contact with the molten metal heaps that were building up as the creature cut through the door. Ilene knelt down next to Celesta and grabbed her hand. Holding her gun towards the door with her other hand she waited.

"Whatever happens," Celesta said, "I'm glad I got to kiss you once."

"You'll get to again," Ilene said, "As soon as this angry oversized alligator is dead."

"How many are there?" Celesta asked.

"I have no clue," Ilene said, "But it may just be one, I think the others had other business to attend to."

The creature finished its cut and the loose part of the door was removed. However nothing was on the other side. A small shimmer appeared as the creature passed through the opening it had created. The water splashed slightly and indented. Ilene smiled aiming her gun.

"Burn in hell mother frakker!" Ilene said pulling the trigger.

Her gun fired again and again, the first couple bullets disabled the creature's invisibility field and the next batch made its armor flicker with electric light. Each bullet knocked the creature back as the powerful pistol roared its defiance. Suddenly the kickback stopped and only the clicking of the guns trigger was heard. She had emptied her ten rounds into the creature, and it was still standing. It took a step closer with a laugh.

"WORT! WORT! WORT!" It bellowed in its deep voice, "BLARG!"

"Blarg yourself," Celesta said from Ilene's right.

Looking over Ilene saw Celesta lift her pistol in her free hand and fire several more shots into the creature. It was knocked back and then looked down at its chest, which was gushing purple liquid. Growling it fell face first into the water, where purple wispy lines began to stream away from the body in motion with the flowing water.

UNSC Vigilance – Engineering

Luke's hand hit the giant red button that was placed on a pedestal in front of a massive door. With a massive whine the door began to open and as it did so the lights on the other side began to turn on. The door finally completed its opening cycle to reveal a large object with a rotating disk at its forefront. Two thick rings spun around the central spinning disk. The rings glowed blue leaving blue waves of energy behind them in beautiful arcing curves.

"Well that's just great," Luke hissed.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked walking up behind him.

"The drive chamber in the center is almost a centimeter too low," Luke said, "We are going to have to get in there and precisely angle it so its centered again."

"I'll break out the FTL calibration equipment," Tom said.

"It's no use, we can't do it without shutting it down," Luke said, "If we even try that we couldn't be sure we could jump start it again. Someone needs to get in there, now the wheels spin slowly enough when not active someone could get in there, but if they aren't careful they would be vaporized."

"I volunteer," Andy said.

"No," Luke said, "For once my lack of size may be useful. I can fit in there easily. And I know what I'm doing better than anyone else on the ship. If anyone here is going to do this it's going to be me."

"Then I'll break out the manual calibration gear," Tom replied, "good luck."

"Thanks," Luke said.

Battlestar Acropolis – CIC

Sasha looked over at the commander who was on the phone speaking with someone. Growling he finally slammed the phone down and glanced up shaking his head. Sasha let out a sigh, as she fingered her pistol. With intruders on deck forty she knew they would be able to get to the CIC in minutes if they knew where they were going.

"Do they know where we are?" Sasha asked.

"I doubt it," Korran replied, "If we are lucky they will think it's at the front of the ship like a UNSC Bridge"

Sasha laughed, "Well I hope they enjoy the observation lounge."

Suddenly a series of blue balls of light shot from the door and hit one of the marines in the CIC. The man screamed and fell off his perch and crashed to the ground, hitting a ledge and a console on the way. The marines opened fire; the two at the door were impaled almost simultaneously by glowing blue-white blades. The combined fire brought down one of the creatures, then two as forty trained marines managed to get a bearing on their target shooting it down. More blue orbs or fire accompanied by green ones flew across the CIC smashing into the walls and balconies causing large black spots, from which molten tritanium dripped.

Marines were caught left and right by the glowing orbs. The firing continued. Korran pulled out his gun and fired at a rushing creature. It leaped into the air, its armor shooting small bolts of lightning as bullets hit it. Korran's weapon fired a few more times until it was out. The creature growled, as it was about to impale him. Sasha pulled out her side arm and put a bullet clean through its head. It collapsed.

Reloading Korran took aim again and brought another one down. Suddenly a blade appeared out of nowhere and jumped to the second floor of the CIC and slashed through three marines sending them flying into the wall. The creature was pelted with more bullets as it stabbed its blade through yet another marine. Its armor flickering again, it decapitated another marine. Turning around it took a bullet from Korran and Sasha. It howled and collapsed falling to the floor.

The firefight continued until most of the marines had been brought down. Three of the creatures approached the command table. Only one other remained alive standing guard at the door. The approaching three activated their blades. Sasha reloaded her gun as the commander and her went back to back. One lunged for her as she ducked under the decapitating slash, she drew her combat knife and jumped on the creature. Stabbing it through the chest she turned to shoot the other, but a searing hot pain shot through her arm as the other elite swiped at her with its blade. She watched as her gun, with her arm still attached hit the ground. The creature growled again and raised its blade to strike. She clenched her teeth awaiting death.

* * *

A/n so then how do you like that cliff-hanger? hope you all enjoyed the battle aboard the Acropolis as much as my friend and I did writing and editing it. So far the general response to this story has been positive and for that we thank you as it keeps us going. So review, keep the puppy off of crack, and review again.


	7. Flesh and Blood

Disclaimer: I nor my co-author own Halo, Battlestar Galactica, nor any of their affiliates. This fanfiction is for entertainment purposed only and all that fun stuff.

No boring statements at the top of the page this time as no interesting reviews or flames were made, kinda makes me wonder if we are losing our touch... Ah well enjoy

Flesh and Bone

Battlestar Acropolis– CIC

The creature suddenly howled in agony and keeled over. Korran stood before her, his hand covered in purple blood, his combat knife clenched in his fist. He turned around and threw the knife at the other creature. It sunk deep into its neck causing it to choke and collapse. A gunshot rang followed by rapid rifle shots as the creature guarding the door stumbled backwards until it fell over. Cole and Jason stood in the doorway holding two assault rifles. They both dropped their clips and grunted.

Sasha looked down at her arm that lay on the floor, and then at the stub only a few inches from her shoulder. The cloth had almost been burned completely away revealing the severed limbs burned flesh. Korran looked down at the arm as well and back up at Sasha.

"I appear to have lost something," Sasha said, delirious.

"We need to get you to sickbay," Korran said picking up the arm, "Come on."

She took a step forward and lost her balance collapsing to the floor, reaching out with both hands, unfortunately she no longer had one. Korran caught her and lifted her up.

"Your balance is off," Korran said, "Are there any more of these bastards left?"

"I can account for around ten," Cole said, "there seems to be fourteen here, that's a total of 24. If they're any others they won't last long."

"If there are, finish them," Korran said walking out of the room.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

"We appear to have eliminated the intruders," Came a gruff voice from the COM, "But we lost a lot of good men doing it."

"Thank you for informing us," Gabriel said, "Vigilance out."

"They got them," Alex said, "We appear to be free and clear."

"Until the next incident, yes we are," Gabriel said picking up his cup of coffee, "but this war isn't over yet."

"Feels like it should be," Alex replied.

"Commander Sabbath," Alana said from behind them, "There's a communiqué from Admiral Preston Cole for you."

Gabriel and Alex looked at each other, "Permission to take the transmission, sir?" Alex requested.

"Absolutely," Gabriel replied getting up and indicating his chair, "maybe he's handing you a command."

Alex sat down in the command chair and typed in his code and a holographic message popped up in front of him. He began to read it and his heart fell to depths Alex never believed possible. He felt a tear well up in his eye as he turned the holo projector off.

"Permission to leave the bridge," Alex said.

Gabriel nodded. With the affirmation of his request he bolted towards the door. Alana chased after him, glancing back at the captain for permission. With a deep breath and second nod of his head Alana headed after him.

UNSC Vigilance – Deck 21 observation

Alana turned the corner to find Alex staring out a window, his hands placed on either side of the frame. Tears dripped from his eyes, which fell onto the curved window. Alana walked up next to him fixing her eyes out the neighboring window. The massive Battlestar floated beyond the frame cutting through space.

"What did it say?" Alana asked, "You looked upset enough I thought you might want to talk to a friend."

"My brother served on board the UNSC Raven, a Halcyon class cruiser," Alex said, "It was over Harvest when the second attack hit. The Raven was lost with all hands."

"I'm so sorry," Alana said, "I didn't realize. I'll head back to the bridge then."

"No, its all right," Alex said, "I could use the company."

"All right," Alana replied, "Was he your only sibling?"

"No," Alex said catching his breath, "He was one of two brothers. The first, Aaron, was lost a year ago when the covenant assaulted Harvest and practically glassed the surface. Now Eddie is dead as well."

"I'm so sorry,' Alana replied, "how about your parents?"

"Both are on Reach. My father works in the Research and Development labs in an ONI research facility there; my mother is a civilian contractor. My father will understand this loss, my mother won't."

"Tell me about your brother, that is, if you want."

Alex looked at her for a few moments, contemplating.

"He was bright, an operations officer like you. He was the eldest; he had long blond hair, and kept jokingly being called Legolas by his comrades when off duty, now he's dead. You know, the hardest part isn't hearing about the loss, or dealing with it. The hardest part is coming home to my parents, and trying to explain to myself why I'm there and my brother's aren't, trying to justify it."

"I can't imagine what you're going through," Alana replied putting a hand on Alex's shoulder, "But I can promise I'm here for you if you need me."

Alex placed his hand on his shoulder, overlapping hers, "Thank you," He said another tear dripping from his eye, "I appreciate it."

UNSC Vigilance – Engineering

Luke stepped forward looking at the spinning drive arms. Taking a deep breath he prepared to step through. Watching the glowing blue flashes carefully, Luke timed his jump and leapt through the moving bars. He landed in front of the large ovular piece of equipment. The lights on it pulsated with energy every few seconds and the central cylinder seemed to vibrate with energy.

"You in safely?" Andy's voice came from beyond the spinning rings distorted by their presence.

"Safe and sound," Luke called back, "but this is going to take a while, it needs to precise, if not I might blow the ship up all on my own."

"Why would we build a piece of equipment that would be so easily dislodged?" Andy called back.

"The Vigilance utilizes a new prototype mounting system," Luke said, "It's extremely well balanced, however, it appears to be vulnerable to heavy impacts from plasma weaponry."

"Great, so this will happen again?" Andy called.

"Not if I can find a way to lock it in place," Luke replied.

Grabbing the equipment from the bag he had with him, Luke pulled out a long object that vaguely resembled a yardstick. Placing it next to the newest variant of the Shaw-Fujikawa slipspace drive he activated a button on the bottom. The entire stick glowed and projected a holographic beam that contacted the drive while the other side projected a display of several computer screens indicating pitch, yaw and rotation of the drive core. Grabbing a second tool shaped like a handle for a shovel Luke placed it on the drive's central cylinder and squeezed. The handle projected a holographic beam that spanned the entire horizontal axis. The two holographic beams missed each other by less than a fingers width.

"Amazing that such a small difference would lead to the ships destruction," Luke muttered to himself as he pulled down on the handle.

The process of manually repositioning the drives core mounting was a very slow tedious process. This was intentional as the slow movement was used so that one could precisely align the drive core by hand if needed considering that a couple millimeters were all it would take to cause mass amounts of damage. As such it was 5 minutes later that the two beams of light finally met each other. They flashed with energy as they became solid holding the drive in place.

"Well glad that the easy part is done" Luke said more so to himself.

He exited the cores chamber with another well timed jump. He gestured for Andy to bring him three newly cut metal beams to proceed with his plan to hopefully fix the issue of the drive being easier rather than harder to knock out of alignment. Grabbing another tool Luke crawled under the drive, which was mounted on an axle that was connected to the remaining bulk of the drive which in turn connected to its drive chamber. The chamber in turn connected to a platform that anchored the drive to the rest of the ship. Moving between the chamber and the platform the drive was mounted on, Luke pondered the lacking secure connections to the platform that allowed for the drive to fall out of synch in the first place. The rings that orbited the core were designed to keep the core in position in the event of a large scale impact. If the core should ever suddenly deactivate without the necessary security measures in place, those rings would go flying off releasing the immense energy stored in them, and that would cause a whole other set of issues.

The third tool Luke had procured from his bag was a highly localized welding torch of sorts. Grabbing the metal beams one at a time he began to attach them to the slipspace drive chambers underbelly. He worked slowly and meticulously with Andy's help attaching the new and improvised supports as needed for the maximum possible level of strength given the situation. Fitting them under the core was easy, the hard part was trying not to cause any damage to drive chamber or heaven forbid, the drive itself. Sliding out from under the hyper-expensive piece of technology, Luke removed his other tools and tapped the drive, which was now secure and stable.

"Is it going to stay locked into place this time?" Tom asked.

"The balancing rings had been knocked out," Luke said, "But they will fine once the whole thing is back up and running." He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his brow, "Magnetic locks are nice but plasma based impacts release a EM pulse that can rip them apart if they manage to penetrate our hulls natural resistance. After that it is only the hard points that will keep it in line until they are restored. Reinforcing those as we did should do the trick."

"yes sir," Tom replied, "So no one has to go diving into that death trap."

"That's right," Luke replied.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

Gabriel handed the holo-pad back to the young ensign nodding. The ensign saluted and walked towards one of the exits of the bridge. Looking back out at the stars Gabriel clasped his hands behind his back observing the floating debris field that now floated harmlessly through space. The sounds of damage control teams hammering at the outside of the ship's hull reached the bridge as they attempted to repair the gaping hole in the side of the ship. While it looked small from the outside it had exposed almost five decks to space, and also nearly killed him and Alex when a structural support gave way.

Another junior officer approached Gabriel with a data pad. Taking it, he looked over the reports from the most recent battle between UNSC and Covenant forces. The Origami asteroid belt was now a graveyard to over 4,000 people as the UNSC Iron Clad and UNSC Stendar had both been destroyed in the combat leaving Preston Cole with only five vessels with which to defend Harvest and the outer colonies. Scrolling down Gabriel saw the combat update from Reach. Almost a hundred vessels were being dispatched to Harvest after the battle. ONI had apparently directly intervened in fleet deployments to ensure Harvest remained securely in UNSC hands.

Sighing heavily Gabriel signed the pod with the holo-pen and handed it back to the young ensign. The junior officer snapped into attention and saluted and proceeded to leave the bridge. The Vigilance had been under Gabriel's command for almost two years now, and in that time he had seen one major battle and made history by being the first ship to make contact with these twelve colonies that had apparently been lost so long ago.

"How many more are out there?" Gabriel said out loud.

"Sir?" Marcus replied from his station to the right of the forward bridge.

"Nothing," Gabriel replied, "I was just wondering how many more human civilizations may be out there, what if there are others out there, other civilizations, other galaxies like this one with thousands of potentially different civilizations?"

"Science fiction is a great genre but is hardly real," Marcus replied, "I don't see how humans could have evolved more than once. Take a look at the Elites, they evolved in our galaxy and they look nothing like us."

"I just have a feeling humanity has a larger role to play in the shaping of the universe than we yet realize," Gabriel said, "If we have twelve brother colonies out there, who is to say that we even truly evolved on earth?"

"Well we do have fossil evidence," Marcus replied reasonably while pinching the bridge of his nose, "besides this is all above my pay grade, that's ONI talking again sir."

Alex walked in with Alana, "Sir, reporting for duty," Alex said saluting, "I want to make every one of those bastards pay."

"We will," Gabriel replied raising an eyebrow, "but take it easy, we aren't winning any wars today."

"We should be," Alex said, "Those bastards don't deserve the artificial air they breathe."

"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked.

"He's a bit angry," Alana said, "Stage 2 I believe."

"My last brother is dead because of them," Alex said pointing out at the wreckage of the former covenant vessel, "They've killed my family, and I mean to kill theirs."

"Captain!" Alana blurted from her station, "Covenant forces have been sighted near Circinius four!"

"Near the Academy?" Gabriel asked.

Battlestar Acropolis – Sickbay

Korran placed his XO on the white hospital bed looking around for the doctor. Nurses were running about the large room with medical supplies and equipment. A nurse quickly attached an IV into Sasha's remaining arm. Korran held out the severed limb to the nurse who grabbed it and placed it in a bucket of ice. Korran knelt down over Sasha who seemed to drift in and out of consciousness.

"Hey, can you hear me," Korran said.

"Yeah," She whispered, "I can't feel my arm, and my body feels cold."

"Well, as soon as the doc gets over here, they'll fix that right up," Korran replied, "I need my XO in the CIC."

Doctor Sirena Orios walked up to the commander and his patient. Looking at the wound she examined it.

"She's in shock," Orios said at last, "But her body isn't in any danger, no blood loss or physical trauma. Other than a severed limb."

"I'd say that's severe trauma doctor," Korran replied looking up at the white clad officer, "what do you mean her body isn't in any danger?"

"When her arm was cut off it was cauterized at the same time," Orios said pocking at the arm's stub, "The good news is that she will be fine as soon as her body adjusts and we treat the burns. The bad news is there is no way we can re attach her arm."

"That's not good enough, doctor," Korran replied, "I need my XO in one piece."

"I'm sorry commander," Orios said, "but reattaching limbs was a difficult task, even before the reversion. The best I can do is treat her burns, and in time give her a prosthetic appendage."

Korran rubbed his forehead, "Very well doctor, get her back up and walking."

Korran got up and turned around to see Ilene sitting next to a bed. In it laid Celesta who was unconscious. Ilene held Celesta's hand in her own and was absent-mindedly stroking it. Walking over Korran placed his hand on her shoulder. Ilene jumped and looked up at Korran, but still held onto Celesta's limp hand.

"Is she okay?" Korran asked.

"I think so," Ilene said, "The doctor bandaged her up and gave her a sedative for the pain."

"How did this happen?" Korran asked.

"Killing five alligators," Ilene said, "they managed to get a lucky shot at her."

Korran smiled realizing that almost all thirty intruders were now accounted for, "Celesta is tough. She'll pull through."

"Yeah, but I," Ilene paused, "I really care for her."

"As she does for you," Korran replied, "Orios is a very good doctor, Celesta's in good hands."

Korran patted Ilene on the back and headed for the doorway and from there to the CIC. As Korran walked down the hall the intercom whined.

"Commander Veritas, Vigilance actual on secure line alpha," the loudspeakers screamed, "Commander Veritas, Vigilance actual on secure line alpha."

Korran glanced over at the hallway side phone and grabbed it. Picking it up he typed in his authorization code and hit the line 'alpha'. The phone crackled into action.

"Veritas here, what can I do for you Gabriel," Korran said.

"There's an academy of ours about to come under attack by covenant forces," Gabriel's voice said over the phone, "we will be heading out ASAP to try and head them off."

"How far are they from here?" Korran asked.

"About a day at our best possible speed in our current condition."

"A day away, does the academy even have that long?" Korran asked.

"Probably not, but I have to try," Gabriel said.

"We will go," Korran said, "our FTL is point to point, we could be there in seconds."

"I have thought of that," Gabriel said, "but that's asking you to take a huge risk."

"The Covenant will think twice before assaulting a planet with a battlestar in orbit," Korran replied, "We'll see if we can't at least slow them down."

"We'll be there as fast as we can," Gabriel said resignation clear in his voice.

Disconnecting the line Korran dialed into the CIC, "Jason, you just became my XO for the next few days. Action stations, condition one throughout the ship. And tell helm to plot an FTL jump for the coordinates given by the Vigilance."

"Yes sir," Jason's gruff voice responded.

Moments later the alarms on the ship blared.

UNSC Vigilance – Bridge

Gabriel looked out the window as the Battlestars massive engines flared bright blue and the large vessel began to change its course. He nodded to the young helms officer who typed something into her console. A massive roar went through the ship and the lights dimmed slightly as the slipspace drive powered up. Slowly a massive circle of energy appeared in front of them, its edges shooting out what appeared to be lightning bolts at random. As if a cloud where behind the ring, the center swirling with some form of energy almost like the eye of the storm, and slowly "lightning" strikes started to cover the center of the ring. The Vigilance vibrated, the rumbling of the ships mighty engines resounded through the vessel as the thrusters propelled them towards the slipspace window.

The Vigilances bow entered the vortex of swirling black matter surrounded by the bright white bolting ring. Before the bridge of the Vigilance passed the threshold Gabriel glanced over at their neighbor. It seemed as if nothing was happening for a brief moment, then a bright light shot down the vessels lateral structure and then retraced its steps and flashed as it reached where the bow had been. The vessel was gone. Then the dark covered the front of the vessel and sent the ship bridge into a black and blue haze just as the hard metal shields closed over the windows. After a moment the vessel was traveling through slipspace. Lightning shot out of the side of the white energy conduit harmlessly in front of them.

"On our way to kick their ass," Alex said.

"Alex a word please," Gabriel said beckoning to him.

Alex complied, "Yes sir?"

"I understand your feelings of hatred believe me I do, but revenge isn't going to help you in the long run. In some ways it can make you feel worse," Gabriel said, "trust me I've been there."

"I want them to pay," Alex said quietly, "and I'm sorry if I got out of hand earlier, my last brother is dead, how did you expect me to respond?"

"I'll make it simple, Alex, and you'll hate me for this now but thank me later," Gabriel said in a low voice, "you will either reign in your emotions or I will judge you unfit for duty and you will spend the remainder of this mission in your quarters. Do I make myself clear?"

Alex snapped to attention and saluted, "Yes sir."

"Good," Gabriel said, "your want for revenge is so far low on my list of things to do right now it's not funny."

Alex saluted and stood at attention looking down at his nearby console and began to read one of the damage reports determined to get his mind off of his brother.

"15 hours out," Alana said from the ops console, "I hope that battlestar is as fast as their boasting or this will be a very long journey for nothing."

Circinius four - Orbit

The planet glistened in the stars brilliant light, the surface shining blue and green from the oceans and forests. The atmosphere harbored many clouds that floated over the planet like imperfections in a snow globe. In a flash of orange and yellow light a massive ship appeared in orbit, flying high above the clouds, its metallic hull illuminated and shining silver in the radiance of the star. The name _Acropolis_ shone brightly on the side of the ships pontoons.

Battlestar Acropolis – CIC

Korran entered the room, walking straight for the command table where Jason Kelley stood in the XO position. Glancing up at the Dradis consol he saw the long-range screen. As the dradis wave passed over the screen several contacts appeared. The closer marks were shown on the close range screen reading as _unknown UNSC contact _while the distant ones read as a combination of _Unknown enemy contacts _and _Enemy CCS Battlecruiser. _The long-range dradis screen read contacts that were almost a thousand AU away.

"Enemy contacts," Jason said.

"Indeed," Korran replied, "Hail the UNSC vessels, we need to identify ourselves before they decide we are a threat."

"The Vigilance should have informed them of our arrival," Jason said.

"I trust Gabriel will understand my taking a few precautions," Korran replied picking up the phone.

"We are on," An ensign who was at Celesta's station called.

"This is Commander Korran Veritas of the Battlestar Acropolis, we are here to aid in the defense of this planet," Korran said, "we are friendly."

"This is General Black of the Corbulo Academy of Military science, and commanding officer of all UNSC forces on this planet" Came the response, "The existence of the threat is a classified matter, and I would prefer it if we did not speak on an open channel about it."

"Understood," Veritas said nodding to the ensign who clicked a few buttons and nodded back, "this channel is secure."

"Good, then we need to talk," Black responded, "I have students down here that may need evac rapidly."

UNSC Vigilance –First Officers Quarters

Alex sat at his desk with his family holo-journal. He was looking at a picture of a blond haired man hugging a young beautiful girl. They were both looking at the holographic-camera, smiling while holding up a bouquet of flowers. The man wore a standard military dress uniform. It was white with a golden line down the middle with brass buttons dotting the center all equidistant. The lieutenant commander bars were pinned to his collar on his neck. The two vertical bars glistened in the sunlight while the star seemed to sparkle. The woman was dressed in a beautiful white dress. On her hand was a golden UNSC Military Academy ring.

A knock came at the door. Alex pushed himself out of the chair and squeezed through the gap between the table and his bunk. Unlike the captain's quarters the XO only had a one-room cabin with a bathroom squeezed off to the side. Getting to the door he pressed the 'open' button. The door slid open to reveal the captain standing in the frame.

"Sir," Alex said going for his jacket, "I'm sorry I'm out of uniform."

"It's okay Alex," Gabriel replied, "may I enter?"

"Of course, sir," Alex replied indicating the cabins interior, "please do enter, what can I do for you?"

"I was hoping I might be able to be a friend today," Gabriel said, "This war has robbed us of so many, I value what few I have left, and I count you among them."

"Thank you," Alex aid sitting down in his chair while Gabriel took the small couch.

"And to explain what I said on the bridge."

"I understand," Alex replied, "I was letting my emotions rule my judgment. That's a bad thing for an officer."

"It was more than that Alex," Gabriel said, "Revenge is something I know very well. I wasted almost ten years of my life on it. Take it from me, it's not something worth living or dying for."

"I know sir," Alex replied glancing at his holo journal.

"Is that your brother?" Gabriel said pointing at the journal.

"That's Edward," Alex replied, "He was the oldest of us, and always the rebellious one. I think he joined the military just to spite my mother. He was a talented operations officer and a good man."

"They are all talented," Gabriel said as he picked up the holo-journal and looked closely at it, "is that his wife?"

"Tessa," Alex said, "She has a child on the way. Guess he won't have a father."

"Losing people to war is the hardest," Gabriel said placing the journal on the table, "it seems so righteous and just at the time, but the truth is it is senseless."

"What did you mean when you said 'revenge is something you know well'?" Alex inquired.

"When I was young," Gabriel replied, "my parents were killed in an insurrectionist attack. I was fifteen I believe. I watched my father get shot and killed. My mother," he paused and grimaced "They weren't so gentle with, they took their time with her, so I spent the next seventeen years of my life looking for revenge, it's not worth it."

"You did get you're revenge didn't you?" Alex asked.

"I did," Gabriel replied, "but after I had finally killed the group responsible with my own hands, the realization of what I had done hit me. I had killed men who I had held responsible and considered monsters. The truth was, only a few actually were. In the end I believe that what I did was justified, and it was, they all participated to some degree, however that still doesn't mean that it was worth it."

"It's hard to do that with the Covenant," Alex said, "They are all monsters."

"How do you know?" Gabriel said, "each one of their warriors we kill had to come from somewhere, they may even have a family and kids back home. Who knows why they attacked us? But it wasn't because they were monsters, they had a reason."

"And that makes it right?" Alex said standing up.

"Not at all," Gabriel replied,

"Then why do you care about their reasons?" Alex said slamming his fist on the table, "they kill our friends and family, glass our worlds and crush our fleets. Who gives a damn why they do it!?"

"Because understanding your enemy is the first step to defeating them," Gabriel said standing up to face Alex, "maybe one day we can broker peace with them."

"We should kill them!" Alex yelled.

"Alex think about what you are saying!" Gabriel said, "Even with the aid of the Colonies we are still fighting a losing war! I know we are going to lose this war if we don't find a way around their defenses to attack their infrastructure."

"And if they refuse peace?" Alex said.

"Then we fight them," Gabriel said, "but if we have to we are going to have to pick and choose our battles. We can't fight them all, not against this enemy."

Alex sat down, "Your right. It's just hard to accept I can do nothing."

At this Gabriel chuckled to the confused look of Alex

"Now whoever said that you were incapable of doing something to stop them?" Gabriel said, "So what if you can't kill the bastard responsible for your brother's death, but you can honor your brother by being the best damn officer you can be."

UNSC Vigilance – Engineering

Luke watched the slipspace drive spin. The stabilizer rings were flying around the central core so fast that one couldn't make them out as seperate. Luke slammed the red button forcing the doors to close. The two massive titanium doors came together and closed with a massive thundering crash. Turning around the double set of doors that led to the engine room stood before him. The doors whisked open as Alana walked in. She was dressed in a casual uniform, not the standard officer's uniform. She wore her golden hair up.

"Hey," She said, "Got a moment?"

"Sure," Luke said, "What do you need?"

"Just to talk if you'll listen," Alana said.

"Of course," Luke replied indicating an bench that lined the wall, "What do you want to talk about?"

"We all have our secrets," She said, "And one of mine is eating away at me."

"Well, what is it?" Luke said smiling.

"Before I tell you promise me one thing," Alana said, "promise me you won't go running until you here the whole story?"

"I promise," Luke said.

"Are you familiar with the slave trade?" Alana said.

"Yes," Luke said, "Though it's hard to get much information on it. I thought the UNSC had all but eradicated it?"

"They got rid of the slave trade in bulk," Alana said, "but there will always be those who crave the pleasures of a woman's body, and use their money to get it instead of their charms."

"Aren't prostitutes for that?" Luke said.

"Yes, but not all are willing," Alana replied, "Many young children are stolen from their parents or sold by them into the slave trade. They are bought by gangsters and the like who run whorehouses. It's easy to cover the illegal parts of the business in the outer edge of UNSC space. These girls are rented out to men who pay, and they can do whatever they want without fear of reprisal."

"Why are you telling this to me?" Luke asked.

"Because I was one of those little girls," Alana said a tear welling up in her eye, "I was a man's play thing since I was a child. I was rescued by a young officer from the UNSC when they cracked down on the illegal operation. I was seventeen years old by then."

"Why didn't you try to escape, or run away?" Luke asked.

"Ever heard of lysergic acid diethylamide?" Alana asked.

"Yes," Luke replied.

"They gave that to me every time I did what they wanted me to, and refused when they didn't," Alana said, tears began to stream down her face, "I would do anything to get a shot of that stuff, and the withdrawal symptoms are unimaginable! I lived for the stuff. When the UNSC officer tried to save me I kicked and screamed and tried to get away because I knew what I'd have to go through."

Luke put his arm around her, "I'm so sorry."

"After I was clean I enlisted in the UNSC Navy because I didn't know what else to do," Alana said, "But I didn't get very far, you can't without schooling. Then ONI came for me and turned me into something monstrous."

"What did they do?" Luke asked.

Alana shook her head, "Even you can't know that," She said, "When I walked away from them they ensured I got into the UNSC command chain. That's where I learned computers."

"I can't imagine what type of hell you've gone through," Luke said, "But why are you telling this to me?"

"Because I see the way you look at me Luke," Alana said, "before you try to pursue a relationship with someone as fucked up as me, you should know what type of mess your getting into."

"Listen," Luke said, "Do you still do LSD?"

"No."

"How about sell your body out?"

"God no!"

"Then how are you, in any way screwed up?"

"Because of what I been through, what I've become. I'm not a sweet innocent girl, I've seen the worst part of life." Alana replied.

"Sure could have fooled me," Luke said.

"Your sweet," Alana said, "But you don't want me as a girl friend. I felt I owed it to you to tell you that."

"What if I don't care?" Luke said.

"Then be careful, because I will fall for you Luke," Alana said, "Just make sure you want me to."

She got up and exited the room. Luke felt mildly stunned by the conversation. On one hand he had just gotten a go ahead from a beautiful girl, but she gave him a pretty deadly stern warning.

UNSC Vigilance – Captain's Quarters

Gabriel walked into his quarters removing his uniform and hanging it on his chair. Reaching over to the side of the desk he swiped his hand across a smooth panel causing the lights in the room to flicker to life. He walked into his bedroom where he saw a lady sitting on his bed. He jumped backwards, immediately oing for his side arm.

"There is no need for that," The woman said getting up, her royal purple robes and golden highlights seemed to bring about a mystical aura to the room.

"Gabriel to security, we have an intruder," He said but there was no response.

"I've ensured a little privacy," The woman said as Gabriel pointed his gun at her.

"Who are you?" Gabriel said.

"A messenger," She said with a smile, "and I have something to tell you."

"A messenger from who?" Gabriel replied.

"The gods," She said.

Gabriel smiled, "I'm sorry I believe I may have misheard you correctly, did you say that you are a messenger from the gods?"

"In time a planet shall be turned to glass, a planet you and your crew hold very dear," She said, "and the Spirit of Fire will bear you to new fortune, but at a great cost. If you are to win the war, you must let you're planet fall, for Harvest's days are numbered, as are its sisters."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gabriel demanded.

'You must pick your fights,' She said with a smile.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes dangerously, "How did you know I said that?"

A small beep from his com panel signaled that he was being called he glanced at it quickly and when he looked back however, there was nothing but thin air where the woman once stood.

"Sir," Came Marcus's voice over the com, "is there a reason you called security?"

"No," Gabriel said after a moment, blinking in confusion "I think I was dreaming, sorry."

He disabled the com and looked down to see a piece of paper on his desk with the words "Harvest's days are numbered" written on it. Gabriel tucked it into his desk. That was far too strange for his liking.

* * *

A/n And there you all have it, no cliff hanger on a character(s) well being this time, just Gabriels sanity. Hope you all enjoyed it, the hardest part of this chapter was the scene where Luke was "fixing" the slipspace drive as so little info is known about them and I was going off of pictures more than anything to describe what was what on it. Making up the tools that he used to re-align it was kinda fun though. Please let us know if anything was royally screwed up on this part as we didn't really have much to go off of. As always, next comes the unashamed askance of reviews, for after all they keep the puppy clean... Until next time!


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